Verge
by FoalyWinsForever
Summary: Because betrayal is subjective. How Chris Rodriguez lost his mind, got it back, and got the girl… or maybe the girl got him. Quite T, for pretty much everything you can think of.
1. You Look Like a Hobo

**Well, here we go. This is taking place somewhere around the beginning of the Sea of Monsters summer, before Chris left. Oh, and I'm sort of in the habit of writing in first person present tense, from writing so much Hunger Games stuff, so if I accidentally slip into present please let me know. I'm making Chris and Clarisse sixteen at the moment. Canon? Debatable. Just work with me here. ;)**

**Edit as of 9/15: Hoo boy. Just came back to reread this, and... yeah. Bleck. I'll try to fix a few things, but I encourage you to read until around chapter ten before you decide whether this fic is worth your time. I think that's about when Chris really comes into his own and I actually figure out where I'm going with this.**

_xxx_

_I never meant to be a traitor._

_I'm not saying I wasn't one, because I may have been. Betrayal is subjective. I'm just saying that it was never my intent._

_xxx_

I kept a wary eye on the Ares kids as I loped through the training arena. It must've been pretty obvious that I was just passing through, but that wasn't even close to a guarantee of safety when it came to them. Surprisingly, they left me alone. Except one.

"Are you here to train or not?" growled Clarisse La Rue. She appeared to be in an even worse mood than usual, which was saying something.

I came up with the response that I thought was least likely to get me killed. "… No?"

Wrong answer, apparently.

I was a pretty tall guy, but she managed to get right in my face, her amber eyes inches from mine. "Well, the Ares cabin has this training slot. So you wouldn't have come here unless you wanted to train against us."

Dammit.

"I, uh, left my sword in my cabin," I stuttered, backing up.

"Grab a spare, then."

The rest of the Ares cabin stopped fighting each other, sniggering as they turned to watch me get my ass kicked. Really, I was a decent fighter, but the Ares kids were better. Particularly Clarisse. And even aside from the fact that, like them, she was superhumanly strong and spent all day training, I just… couldn't fight her. I don't know. I couldn't do it. It wasn't that I was afraid of hurting her, because I knew she was way too good to let that happen. But when she looked me in the eye, I was gone.

I walked over to the rack of spare swords as slowly as I could, finding one with a balance close enough to mine and reflecting on how nice it would've been to make it through the day without any serious injuries. Of course, she was right behind me, when I turned, flashing an evil grin. Great. She was going to enjoy this, I could tell.

Her first blow came pretty much instantly, an impossibly quick swipe at my sword hand. I blocked it. Barely. She smirked and struck harder. I narrowly dodged a few more swipes, backing across the arena and not even trying to fight back. As usual.

Finally, Clarisse got tired of my evasive maneuvers. She paused for a moment, lowering her spear slightly, evaluating me. For one stupid moment, I thought that she was going to have mercy on me and let me leave.

Yeah, that idea didn't last long.

Clarisse cracked a wide grin and attacked full force. Before I could react, her spear smacked my sword out of my hands. I swore, the sting in my palm distracting me from the fact that I'd just been disarmed, which in retrospect probably should have concerned me a bit more. And by the time that it occurred to me that I should probably look up before she attacked, I was flat on my back on the arena floor with only the vaguest idea of what had just happened. I wasn't entirely sure, but I thought she might have body-slammed me. That particular thought didn't dismay me quite as much as it probably should have.

Clarisse watching disinterestedly as I rose to my feet. As soon as I did, she charged again. I raised my sword halfheartedly. Two seconds later, I found my own blade at my throat, her spearpoint locked against its hilt. I leaned back to duck under it. She whipped the spear around, ramming the handle into my chest, using the fact that she already had me off-balance to send me down. Again.

The sad thing was, as far as sparring sessions with Clarisse went, I'd done pretty damn well by my standards. Half the times I showed my face in the arena while she was there I ended up losing blood.

And yet I still managed to come up with an endless amount of ridiculous excuses to do so.

Clarisse waltzed toward me, standing over me with her arms crossed and tapping her foot impatiently as I staggered upright. "Had enough?" she asked. Was I imagining the hint of a smile in her eyes?

"Enough?" I protested. "I never asked for any."

She raised an eyebrow. "Why were you here, again?"

"I was going… to the…" I stuttered, struggling to remember what my excuse had been this time.

"To get a haircut?" she asked derisively.

I blinked, scratching the admittedly-a-bit-messy black hair in question. "Um... what?"

And for a split second, she looked unsure of herself. "I… you _do._ You look like a hobo."

"A… hobo," I repeated in disbelief.

One of the Ares kids behind me snorted, and Clarisse whirled on him furiously. "Shut _up,_" she snarled.

O-kay?

I stood still, thoroughly confused, and tried my best to look inconspicuous. To absolutely no one's surprise, it didn't work. The Ares kids, Clarisse included, turned and glared at me. "Uh… bye!" I said brightly, spinning on my heel and walking out of the arena before another one of them decided to use me as a punching bag.

"You're gonna get yourself killed one of these days, tangling with her, you know that?"

I turned to see my friend Kieran lounging against the frame supporting the stands. He was Ares, but he wasn't quite as violent as the rest of them. Or maybe he was, actually. But one way or the other, he didn't feel the need to murder me all the time, so it worked.

"I don't do it on purpose_,_" I muttered resentfully.

He raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Well, you make the most deliberate mistakes I've seen in my life then, pal. Over and over again."

I considered his argument for a moment. "Shut up," I replied eloquently.

"I'm serious. Why not fight against the ninety percent of this camp whose asses you _can_ kick? You crash our practices on purpose."

"Shut _up._"

"You even say 'shut up' like she does! You got that from her!"

"Shut_ up! _… Er… shut up! They can hear you!"

"Damn right," he guffawed.

I smacked a palm to my face. "Well, why are you being so loud, then?"

"Because they're not hearing anything they don't already know."

I froze, lowering my hand slowly and spitting out a particularly colorful curse. "They _know?_ Or, I mean, they think they know? Because they don't. They're wrong, you hear me? But… they know?" My voice started as a menacing growl, but rose to a remarkably pathetic whimper.

Kieran was practically rolling on the ground, he was laughing so hard. "_Everyone_ knows, Chris. You like Clarisse La Rue. And as to your next question, I don't know."

I was thankful that he added that, because it let me sort of sidestep the first statement. "My next question?"

"Whether she likes you."

"... Um."

"I dunno. But I wouldn't be surprised. She told us not to kill you during training, you know."

I blinked. "Really? Then why did I just get my ass kicked?"

His face split into a knowing grin. "I believe her exact words were, 'Nobody pulverizes Rodriguez but me.'"

**And so she will. Many, _many_ times.**


	2. Who Says I'm Sulking

Either I was paranoid, or the Ares kids were paying me a suspicious amount of attention. Whenever I saw one of them, at the dining pavilion or just walking around camp, they always seemed to be… I don't know, sizing me up or something, throwing me weird, evaluating glances. The strange thing was that that the looks they were giving me weren't I'm-going-to-kill-you-the-first-chance-I-get looks. They were more curious, like the Ares kids were trying to figure out what I was about.

Almost like they were wondering if I was worthy of… something.

I dodged Tantalus as I walked down to the canoe lake. He didn't seem to particularly hate me, which was good, I supposed, but I remembered learning the legend about him. It was always sort of hard to tell which of the Greek myths to take literally, and I figured that I'd rather not chance it with a guy who may or may not have fed his children to the gods. I guess it wasn't just the Olympians who were completely insane.

I kicked a rock into the lake idly, then immediately regretted it when I realized that I'd probably just given a naiad a headache. Oops. They'd get me for that, I knew, but it was too late now.

I checked the date on my watch and scowled. I had officially been at Camp Half-Blood for six years without being claimed. Six _years_. Honestly, I'd pretty much given up around the one-year mark. I figured that whoever my godly parent was, they'd completely forgotten about me.

"What're you sulking about, Rodriguez?" a harsh voice called from behind me. I spun, scowling, fully prepared to take out my spectacularly bad mood on whomever it happened to be. Of course, that plan changed when I realized it was Clarisse.

"Who says I'm sulking?" I asked sulkily.

She stared at me for a minute, like she was trying to decide whether I was kidding. Eventually she raised an eyebrow, nodding slowly. "I just did, didn't I? What, you're mad I beat you?"

I smiled wryly. "You always beat me. If that bothered me I'd have completely lost it by now, wouldn't I?"

Clarisse stared past me. "Maybe you have," she said. I didn't get the feeling she was actually referring to my rhetorical question.

"What, lost it? How?" I guess pursuing it may not have been my best decision ever. But it wasn't every day I had a conversation with Clarisse that didn't involve a lot of physical pain on my end, and I intended to make the most of it.

Of course, I only earned a grumpy scowl for my trouble. "I said you're crazy. How obvious do I need to be for you?"

I huffed indignantly. "Not quite _that_ obvious. Honestly. What did I ever do to you to deserve so much persecution?"

And again, I got that weird feeling that I'd thrown her off, just a tiny bit. She hesitated, like she was thinking of a sufficiently evil answer. "You…" she began slowly, but still seemed stuck. She checked her watch, obviously stalling. But her face lit up. She'd seen an escape. "Border patrol," she declared. "You're on it."

I groaned, cursing Tantalus. Since Thalia's tree had been poisoned and the camp's borders weakened, he'd been refusing to organize any real protection for the camp. Which meant that the campers had taken it upon themselves. Particularly the Ares cabin. And particularly Clarisse. And Clarisse organizing the patrols meant that I spent a _lot_ of time on patrol. Usually with her. I was pretty sure she liked to keep me around so that she could punch me if she thought things were getting too quiet.

Or maybe she just liked having me around.

Nah.

"Get your armor. Meet by Thalia's tree. Five minutes. Or else," she barked, in full commander mode.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," I muttered, brushing by her. Possibly against her. It was a narrow dock, okay?

I loped up to the Hermes cabin, scowling as I got closer. It was full, uncomfortably so. But it made me feel more guilty than angry. I mean, I was one of the unclaimed. The real Hermes kids were the only ones who actually had a right to be there.

I ducked an unidentified projectile as I swung around the doorway, stepping over a few kids who were passed out on the floor. I was one of the lucky ones. After six years, I'd managed to secure myself a bunk. The fact that I was the biggest guy in the cabin probably didn't hurt, although I didn't exactly have the fiercest reputation in the world. I mean, people didn't generally mess with me– except Clarisse, of course– but it wasn't like I'd ever seriously injured anyone. Well, not intentionally, anyway.

I had to drag two snoring demigods out of the way to pull my armor out from under my bed. Why, I wondered, did Clarisse insist on making us patrol in full armor? It was summer, for the gods' sakes! But of course I just sighed and started wresting with straps and buckles, knowing it wouldn't be worth it to get in a fight with her about it.

Now, where was my helmet?

I turned, glaring at the grinning half-blood on the bunk above mine. I guess Clarisse wasn't quite the _only_ one who messed with me.

"Connor," I growled. "My helmet?" But he only laughed. I rolled my eyes. After six years in the Hermes cabin, I'd learned exactly how to deal with the Stoll brothers. Some people might have called my technique excessive. I called it effective. I grabbed him by the collar and yanked him off the bunk.

Subtlety, thy name was not Rodriguez.

All right, maybe I had a _tiny_ bit of a reputation. Although I didn't usually do stuff quite that drastic. But hey, it was Connor, after all. He should've known what he was getting into.

Connor yelped in alarm, tumbling past me. I caught his ankle a second before his head hit the floor, then dumped him unceremoniously on top of the two demigods on the floor. They didn't even stir. I pulled his blanket off the bed, rolling my eyes when my helmet was under it.

"Honestly, Connor, that's got to be the least creative prank you've ever– Wait a minute." I paused, narrowing my eyes suspiciously. He still seemed a little too amused, considering that I'd busted him in about three seconds. I peered into the helmet. "Itching powder? Really? On my _face?_" I gave him my patented kicked-puppy look. "I'm hurt, Stoll. What did I ever do to deserve _that?_"

He thought about it for a moment. Suddenly, his face lit up.

Uh-oh.

"Hey, Chris, remember when you were on the dock ten minutes ago?"

I cocked my head, confused. "Uh... yes?"

Connor grinned. "How about when Clarisse told you to meet her at Thalia's tree in five minutes?"

"Gods damn it. Screw you, Connor," I yelled over my shoulder, booking it out the door sans helmet. "I'm still going to get you for that."

"Good luck," he called after me. "See if you can beat a son of Hermes in a prank war!"

It was a fair point. He was a claimed son of Hermes, not one of the leftovers like me. He'd kick my ass in a prank war. Just like Clarisse could kick my ass in general, and the Apollo kids could shoot better, and the Athena kids were smarter, and now that freaking Jackson kid was running around with hydrokinetic powers…

And what was I? I had been here longer than almost anyone. And I could leave right now and most of the camp would never notice.

Sometimes I sort of hated this place.

But when I saw Clarisse's face, I knew I was about to hate it a hell of a lot more.

"I said five minutes!" she yelled as I ran up the hill as fast as I could in full armor. Not very.

"Sorry," I said, a little more testily than I meant to. "I can't get my armor out of my cabin without having a lame prank played on me."

Her eyes narrowed. "Well, maybe your whole cabin needs to realize that protecting this camp-"

"- Is completely pointless," I said harshly. "What in Hades are ten heroes going to do against the Lord of Time if he decides to show up right now?"

"Who _knows?_" she yelled, turning bright red before calming down a bit. "It's all we can do, okay?"

I knew I'd regret what I was about to say, but that didn't stop me from saying it. "And why the Hades should we?"

"For Olympus, Chris!" Her voice was intense, but not angry. Mine was.

"Why should we fight for Olympus?" I protested, struggling to keep my voice under control. "When have they ever-"

"They don't need to! They're our parents!"

"_Your_ parent is an Olympian, Clarisse," I shot back. "For all I know, mine could be fighting for Kronos. So I've either got an Olympian parent who doesn't care about me enough to claim me, in which case screw it, or one on the Titan side who's also doing a spectacular job of not giving a crap. So they can all go to Hades as far as I'm concerned."

Clarisse stared at me wordlessly, jaw dropped. But she didn't look like she was about to kill me. She looked sad.

I turned away abruptly, walking back down the hill, deciding where to go sulk for an hour or so. I already regretted everything I'd said. Well, no. I stood by it, actually. I just wished I had kept my mouth shut. Because the look on Clarisse's face… how could I have done that? Why would I feel the need to make her feel guilty for having a parent who actually cared about her?

And I was hit by another wave of guilt as I realized something else. I didn't know anything about Clarisse's mother. For all I knew, Ares might have been her only parent, and he didn't seem all that fatherly. I didn't know Clarisse at all, I realized sadly.

I also realized that I had been subconsciously sporting my infamous kicked-puppy look as I stormed bad-temperedly across camp. Combined with the fact that I had just thrown my worst temper tantrum since I was three, I suddenly felt the urge to go bang my head against something very solid for a few minutes. The tree trunks looked inviting, but I figured I might have already conked a naiad with a rock today. No need to assault a dryad, too.

Honestly, no wonder my parent hadn't claimed me.

**Please forgive his brattiness. He'll lighten up. Or maybe not lighten up, exactly, but express his angst a bit more maturely. ;)**


	3. The Whole 'Killing Percy' Thing

**(Sigh) Alright, yet more canonbending for my own convenience. In here, Chris actually was at camp at the very beginning of Sea of Monsters, but Percy just sort of didn't notice him.**

**You know what's really tricky? Trying to think of things for Chris to actually **_**accomplish.**_** Because all he really does in the series is have things happen **_**to**_** him. Meh, I'll come up with something (ridiculous). ;)**

I had stomped halfway down Half-Blood Hill when I heard the strangest sound I'd heard in a while: a weird chorus of hissing and metallic clanking, followed by the sound of Clarisse's cursing and Travis screaming like a little girl.

Huh.

I turned, and my jaw dropped in disbelief. Two giant bulls, automatons, charged out of nowhere, like someone had stuck them at the bottom of the hill and pointed them right at us. And with Thalia's tree as sick as it was, Clarisse and the rest were the only thing standing between the bulls and the camp.

I rolled my eyes, groaning angrily. Clarisse would never let me hear the end of this. I'd been wrong, as usual. Well, maybe. Because if the battle kept going the way it was, I would've been absolutely correct when I said that the border patrol was pointless.

I ran back up the hill as fast as I could. I knew there wasn't really anything I could do that the rest of them couldn't, but it still didn't seem right to just walk away. And I _was_ in the mood to stab something, after all. Metal bulls would do just fine.

I reached the summit of the hill just as Clarisse rammed her spear into one of the bulls' shoulders. The rest of the patrol was pretty much running around screaming. Clarisse yelled at them, managing to get two or three to stand with her, swiping at the bulls as they charged past. I winced as one kid, I couldn't tell who because of his helmet, got swiped by a horn and tossed through the air. We would be lucky if no one got killed, not to mention if we actually managed to hurt the automatons.

Clarisse jerked her head at me impatiently, gesturing for me to join her. I scowled, but obeyed. I wasn't mad at Clarisse, really. The argument had been completely my fault, and anyway, it was all stuff that I'd been thinking for a while. Actually, she was pretty much the only reason I _wasn't_ storming off in a huff. At the moment, defending the camp of the gods wasn't something I was feeling highly motivated to do. Defending Clarisse, on the other hand…

Well, okay, maybe "defending" wasn't exactly the right word. More like "trying to seem mildly useful while Clarisse fought two giant automatons." But still.

"Move!" Clarisse screamed at me. I looked up, startled, unaware that I hadn't been paying attention. Usually, ADHD was a handy thing to have during a fight. But sometimes, when you had a lot on your mind, it would just make you even more distracted than usual.

I yelped, diving to my right as one of the bulls freight-trained past me, and barely caught myself before I tumbled off down Half-Blood Hill. I managed to stagger to my feet, only to get clipped by the other one charging from the opposite direction, its metal shoulder slamming into my arm. I gasped when I realized that my bones were broken, a curse hissing through my teeth. I couldn't feel any pain, though. I was sure I would later, but for the moment, I just switched my sword into my left hand and hauled myself upright again.

"Border patrol, to me!" Clarisse yelled.

Yeah, good luck with that. Half the patrol was on the ground, and I couldn't have been much worse off than the other four who _were_ on their feet. Clarisse yelled for us to form a phalanx, and we did the best we could. I knelt between Clarisse and Travis, bracing myself for the inevitable impact and trying not to think about just how much pain I would be in when several tons of metal bull crashed into my broken arm. The fact that Clarisse's leg was pressed against mine may not have been helping my focus, either.

I glanced through the gap between the shields, and to my surprise, there was an unarmored girl standing in the middle of the battlefield. Annabeth Chase, I realized after a second. Not a year-round camper, although she'd been here for a lot of summers.

But she wouldn't be here for many more, if she didn't move. The bull with Clarisse's spearpoint in its shoulder ran straight at her, but there was nothing I could do about it with the other one headed for our phalanx. Suddenly, Annabeth whipped some kind of a hat on her head and vanished completely. A magical artifact, probably from her mother. See, when your godly parent _cared_ about you, you got little advantages like that...

That was all I saw before several things happened at once. Clarisse, in her eternal subtlety, grabbed me by the hair and yanked my head behind the shield just before a blast of fire curled over it. A boy's voice called, "Behind you! Look out!" She spun, and we both caught sight of the bull that had chased Annabeth coming at us from behind.

The first one slammed through the front of our formation, crashing right into Clarisse and I, because apparently that's the kind of luck we have. She took the brunt of it, flying backwards and skidding across the grass, while I demonstrated truly astounding heroism by falling over backwards and yelping as the bull's hoof missed my head by about an inch. The pain of the automaton's impact on my broken arm finally hit me, and I groaned, trying not to yell. I sat up dazedly, and, out of the corner of my eye, saw Clarisse begin to do the same thing. I also saw the second bull looming up behind her.

I knew that I had just enough time to get her out of the way. The only way I could think of to do it would be to tackle her, which she probably wouldn't appreciate, but I'd rather get punched by her later than let her get run over by a fire-breathing bull now.

And I was almost to my feet when something slammed solidly into my back, knocking me back to the ground on my face. At first I thought it was the other bull, but then I realized that it was a demigod.

And I watched from the ground as Percy Jackson dragged Clarisse out of the way.

Now, I knew it was irrational. I knew he meant well. But at that moment, I wanted to kill him more than I'd ever wanted to kill anyone.

The bulls, of course, were a little more serious about the whole "killing Percy" thing than I was. Both ran in wide loops, going after him, and Annabeth yelled for us to spread out and distract them. I stood up, but the bulls pretty much ignored me. Percy swiped the snout off the first one as it charged by him, then promptly tripped on a root and fell flat on his face.

_Dirt doesn't taste too good, does it?_ I though spitefully, then instantly felt bad for it. He was only trying to help. But I was still angry. I mean, I didn't really care that he'd knocked me over. I knew how it was during a fight. ADHD or not, there were only so many things you could be concerned about at once, and not accidentally smacking your allies wasn't generally one of them.

But he just _had_ to rescue _Clarisse_ of all people? I mean, maybe I actually wouldn't have gotten to her in time, and she would've been dead if he hadn't showed up. Who knew? But I really was sure that I would have been able to. I would have saved her life, if he hadn't beaten me to it.

But somebody was going to need to save his. The bull whose snout he sliced ran off in a random direction, but the other one ran straight at him. It didn't look like he could stand up. I looked around for my sword, and finally saw it a few feet away, underneath Travis. I crouched, putting my hand to his neck as I yanked my sword out from under him. Thankfully, he was alive, just unconscious.

"Tyson, help him!" Annabeth's voice cried. Tyson? Who was Tyson?

"Can't – get – through!" a weird voice shouted back.

"I, Annabeth Chase, give you permission to enter this camp!"

Okay, whoa. What? If Tyson, whoever he was, needed permission to enter camp, that meant that he was a-

And for the second time, I was buffeted out of the way as the Cyclops barreled past me, slamming into my broken arm yet again. I crumpled to the ground with a muffled yell of pain, gritting my teeth. Seriously, this was getting old. People- and, uh, monsters- needed to watch where they were freaking going.

"Percy needs help!" yelled the Cyclops who had flattened me, jumping straight into the bull's blast of fire. Which seemed a bit show-offy to me, considering the whole "Cyclops" thing and all.

"Tyson!" yelled Percy, who evidently knew absolutely nothing about Cyclopes despite having apparently just traveled to camp with one.

Okay, so maybe I was being a little mean about the whole thing. But I had been in a horrible mood already, before getting my arm broken and promptly crashed into by a giant bull, then getting knocked down, twice, and watching while a kid three years younger than me saved the girl who-

… Was, uh, the leader of my border patrol, who I really should have been protecting. Right.

The girl in question was running straight at the other bull, which was coming back up the hill. As the sound of the Cyclops smashing the first one came from the other direction, Clarisse skidded to a halt, letting the bull come to her. She seemed to actually have a plan this time. Or at least I hoped so, because if she got thrown again I wasn't sure how much I could do about it.

Of course, I probably _would _have been able to stand by her, if not for a certain demigod and Cyclops doing me almost as much damage as the bulls. But as it turned out, Clarisse didn't need my help.

I winced as the automaton ran at her. She feinted to the right, and it adjusted, only to be thoroughly confused when she dodged to the left and ran her spear- I guess she must have found another one- through its back leg. It tried to chase her, but only seemed to be able to turn left, and ended up running in circles.

Clarisse came stomping up the hill, obviously furious. For a moment, I thought she was headed for me, and I couldn't decide whether I was happy for the attention or fearing for my life, going by the look on her face. But she stormed right past me, to where Annabeth was checking on Percy.

I scowled. _Oh, gods, a twisted ankle, _I thought sarcastically._ Mm-hmm. Yup. Go ahead, give him all the nectar you've got on you. Not like I'm about to pass out over here with my arm broken in about five places. Not like Travis is unconscious, or Jessica's about to bleed to death._

Yeah, I was definitely being unreasonable. But I was pissed off. And maybe a bit jealous. Clarisse wouldn't be caught dead showing any concern for-

"You okay?" Clarisse asked, apparently done screaming at Percy. Her face was upside-down from where I was lying on the ground.

... Oh.

I blinked. "Um… my arm's broken, I think," I replied.

She looked at it, wincing, which in turn made me wince, because she'd broken a lot of bones and if _she_ thought it looked painful... "You _think_?"

"I'm, uh, pretty sure."

She raised an eyebrow, looking like she was trying not to laugh. Whatever was funny, I sure didn't get it. "Yeah, I think you might be right. Can you stand up?"

I rose to my feet, cursing colorfully as a stab of pain shot into my shoulder. Clarisse hauled a groaning Travis to his feet and ordered us to the Big House. I wondered who'd be doing the medical stuff, now that Chiron was leaving, and shivered at the thought of getting patched up by Tantalus. Somehow, though, I couldn't see him filling that job.

Travis and I limped past the bull the Cyclops had flattened as Clarisse strode back up to Thalia's tree, talking to Percy and Annabeth.

It turned out that there was no single staff member in charge of the Big House's infirmary anymore. Instead, a few of the older Apollo kids were there. They were doing a pretty good job, actually. The big, sunny room that usually served as the infirmary had most of our patrol in it already, along with a few other miscellaneous casualties. Jake, an Apollo guy, took Travis from my good shoulder while another kid I didn't know put my arm in a cast. Even nectar and ambrosia couldn't heal broken bones instantaneously, although they could speed it up quite a bit.

I walked back to the Hermes cabin alone. As soon as I opened the door, I sighed, because I knew what had happened. Another desertion. One or two campers had been leaving every month since Luke left, most of them from our cabin. The unclaimed. We usually just sort of didn't talk about it, but everyone was quiet and subdued for a few days afterwards.

The worst thing was when, weeks later, another camper would say, "So-and-so left? When?" And the rest of we unclaimed would grit our teeth and try not to think about the fact that if we were to vanish, it might take people weeks to notice, if ever.

**Meh. Sucky place for an ending, but I couldn't really think of anything else to say. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed!**


	4. Rainbows and Butterflies

The next morning, I woke up and was pleased to find that I had lightened up slightly. I wasn't feeling full of rainbows and butterflies, exactly, considering that the camp was still in danger and my arm hurt like all get-out, but at least I was a bit less homicidally-inclined. Of course, when I rolled out of bed and promptly tripped on one of the demigods littering the floor, it didn't help my mood. Probably didn't help his, either, but he was about half my size and didn't seem too keen to make a big deal of it. I was pretty sure the kid had just gotten here a few days ago, and his first impression of me had been me yanking Connor off his bunk by his collar. Whoops.

I slipped out the door in my sweatpants and T-shirt, narrowly dodging a few miscellaneous projectiles from the cabin, and zombied my way up to the dining pavilion barefoot. For ten minutes or so after I wake up, I'm not exactly the most graceful guy in the world, and probably walked into a wall or three on the way there. Most of the Hermes cabin was still asleep, and the only kids at our table were a few first-year campers who for some reason decided to get up early. "Early" being about nine in Camp Half-Blood. I grabbed my breakfast, strolled down to the pier, and promptly about-faced when I saw Annabeth and Percy there. I was pretty sure they were working on a chariot for the race Tantalus had announced last night, but whatever they were up to, I didn't want to talk to them. Petty of me, perhaps. But it was for their own good. Percy probably would have received an undeserved dunking in the lake if I had let myself go over there.

Oh, wait. Son of Poseidon. That wouldn't have really gone well, would it? Gods _damn_ it, that was going to get old.

I decided to be a good, mature person and leave them alone, making my daily suicidal pilgrimage to the training arena instead. And shockingly enough, Clarisse was there practicing.

She looked up sharply from the dummies she was massacring as I walked in. For a moment, I thought I saw the ghost of a smile on her features, but when I looked again she was wearing her customary scowl. "Don't tell me you're here to train," she said cynically, gesturing at my plate of bacon and notable lack of shoes. "Or to get a haircut," she added after a moment of thought.

"Hades, no," I said, flopping onto the bleachers. "Well, maybe the second one would be a good idea."

Clarisse shot me an evil grin, raising her sword. "_No!_" I yelped, scrambling backward. "I think I'll get one of the Aphrodite kids to do it, thanks. With, you know, _scissors._"

Clarisse laughed. "What, I don't have that special eye for fashion?" she asked, gesturing at her trademark camouflage bandanna. I loved that bandanna.

I shrugged, a bit surprised by the fact that Clarisse had actually cracked a joke. While talking to _me. _"Oh, no, you do! I just don't think the bandanna look would work on me."

She laughed, and I was just beginning to think that this was going fairly well when she raised her spear again. "So. Ready to train?"

"Oh, uh," I started. "Can't. Broken arm, sorry."

But Clarisse turned slightly, showing me the arm that had been hidden from my view, which was held in a sling. "We're even."

"Like hell," I muttered as I rose to my feet. "Except for your super strength and eight hours a day spent training. And the fact that you're about ten times meaner than I am. Perfectly fair." She only grinned wolfishly, tapping her sword point on the ground in front of her. Proving my point perfectly, incidentally, although I elected not to point that fact out. I grabbed the same practice sword that had served me _oh_ so well last time, then fell into a fighting crouch as far away as I could get without backing into the wall of the arena.

This time, she didn't charge straight at me. She stalked me, coming pretty close to backing me into a corner a few times, before I managed to slip away. At first, I thought she was just playing with me, as usual. But then she lost her patience slightly, lunging with a frustrated growl. I dodged, the dull point of her sword slashing past my ribs, but I wasn't any more capable of striking back than I'd ever been. She kept coming after me, pursuing me all the way across the arena, striking every few seconds while I jumped backwards.

Both of us realized that I was only a foot from the wall at precisely the same time. Clarisse's face split into an evil grin. I swore again, right before five feet, eleven inches of solidly-built daughter of Ares smashed into me, slamming my back against the wall.

"Mph," said a voice. Not mine, surprisingly enough, although I entirely agreed with the sentiment. Actually, the only reason I _wasn't _making some kind of noise of distress was probably because there wasn't any air in my lungs. But Clarisse was distracted by the noise for a split second, just enough time for me to slip out from between her and the wall and hightail it off to my right.

"Hey!" Clarisse yelped indignantly, diving after me and catching my legs in a full-on football tackle. I crashed to the ground, not exactly surprised by that turn of events.

The source of the sound was revealed to be a few Aphrodite girls, who had apparently been lurking in the stands the entire time. "Awk-ward!" one of them giggled. I probably turned bright red, but Clarisse didn't seem to get what they were talking about.

"We're training, punks. That's what the training arena is for. Not sitting in the stands doing your makeup."

One of the older girls sniffed. "Our hair, actually. But that's not the reason we're here."

"Well, do tell, Silena," Clarisse growled impatiently, still pinning my legs to the ground.

The girl in question giggled again. "We were… _called_ here," she said, flipping her black hair dramatically.

Oh. Oh, boy. I was pretty sure I knew where this was going, and I was equally sure I didn't want to be here when Silena said what I was absolutely sure she was about to say. But sneaking away from Clarisse wasn't exactly an option. As soon as I tried to wriggle free of her grip, she dove forward instinctively and ended up sitting on the backs of my knees, which is a _lot_ more painful than it sounds. The worst part, though, was that I couldn't do anything but cover my head and hope not to get killed too painfully when Silena giggled, "Our mother called us here. She can sense these things, you know."

"These… things?" Clarisse said slowly, unconsciously putting more of her weight on me as she got more distracted.

"Ouch," I muttered, but nobody seemed to notice. I was pretty sure I was losing my circulation.

"Well of course!" Silena chirped. "We're daughters of Aphrodite, aren't we?"

And I could practically see the light bulb click on above Clarisse's head as she finally figured out exactly what they were implying. She turned her head slowly, glaring ominously down at me. I raised myself onto my side with my good arm, giving her the most winning smile I could muster and hoping that I would pass out pretty early on in the beating I was probably about to take.

But instead, Clarisse rose to her feet suddenly, her face bright red. I decided it was probably safer to just stay still, and anyway I couldn't really feel my legs. The Aphrodite girls watched interestedly as she stormed out of the arena.

Was her face red because she was pissed off, or was she actually blushing?

I hauled myself to my feet with a groan, wincing at the pins and needles in my legs. "Thanks, guys," I said, raising an eyebrow at the girls in the stands.

Silena beamed. "No problem!" I stared at her in disbelief, completely at a loss as to how to respond. As it turned out, I didn't need to. "She _totally_ wants you," she continued confidentially.

I blinked. "… Oh," was about all I could think of to say. Silena nodded sagely.

Well then.


	5. You Make Me Look Like Buddha

**See, now, this **_**would**_** have been out a few days ago, but I ended spending about three hours stalking all of ClichesBullet's Chris and Clarisse-related stuff on DeviantArt. It's all her fault.**

**Oh, and this is sort of in that interim period between when Percy gets to camp and when the chariot race takes place. Riordan doesn't say anything except a few random snippets of what happens, so I figured I'd just make it up. Sorry for the gratuitous Percy-and-friends-bashing. It's Chris' thoughts, not mine. ;) Also, he's a bit of a potty-mouth in this one. You have been warned.**

**Also, I just found out that Silena had black hair, so ignore my previous comment. Ignore the one about Clarisse having hazel eyes, too. Like I said, I've been stalking ClichesBullet/Thatu's drawings, and her interpretation is _much_ more fun. :D**

We all grinned as the conch horn sounded after dinner, signaling that it was time for Capture the Flag. As usual, Ares and Athena were captaining. Ares had recruited Hermes, Dionysus, and Hephaestus, while Athena had Apollo, Demeter, Aphrodite, for all the good _that _would do them, and, of course, Poseidon.

Annabeth and Clarisse charged into the pavilion with the banners, flanked by a few of their siblings. The rest of us rose to our feet, screaming at the top of our lungs, and followed them into the woods. We split into two groups when we got there, Clarisse leading the red team in one direction, Annabeth leading the blue in the other. As we ran, groups of kids split off in different directions, headed to patrol the border, go after the blue team's flag, or run decoys. Along with Clarisse, I was one of the kids who would be guarding the flag. She had decided to play it a little riskier this time, placing a small guard on the flag and banking on the fact that the other team wouldn't know where it was. The fact that the entire Ares cabin, except her, and the Hephaestus kids would be going after the other flag meant that the blue team wouldn't have much time to find it, anyway.

Interestingly enough, the "small guard" in question consisted of Clarisse and myself. Since the flag was bright red, she'd come up with a plan to protect it, too. Of course, this plan involved me standing right in front of it. Clarisse had reasoned that my armor didn't stand out nearly as much as the flag did, and besides, the other team should be going out of their way to avoid me rather than running straight at me. Of course, that would only be true assuming that they really _didn't _know where it was. And against the Athena cabin, that was never a safe bet, since they followed the "all's fair in love and war" expression to the letter, and I honestly wouldn't have been surprised to find out they had a spy. So now the flag was folded up, lying in a small dip in the ground so that you had to get reasonably close to see it. And then, theoretically, you had to get through Clarisse and I.

Clarisse paced around me in a circle while I shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot, leaning my sword point against the ground to try to save my still-sore arm some pain. The sounds of yelling and clashing weapons rang out from the direction of the border. I was tempted to try to talk to her, but I figured that she wouldn't appreciate being distracted during the game. But then, as usual, she surprised me.

"You're not leaving, are you?" she asked out of nowhere, her voice relatively quiet, although that was probably just to avoid attracting attention.

"What do you mean?" I asked, taken off guard. "You mean the flag? Why would I?"

She gave me her trademark "Are you really that stupid?" look. "I meant camp, punk."

... What?

I blinked. "No! You thought..?" And she didn't just think it. It bothered her enough that she actually asked me about it…

Clarisse glared at me. "Yeah, I kinda did," she said with a scowl. "The whole patrol that saw you throw your little hissy fit probably does, too."

"Hissy fit? Excuse me? I prefer to think of it as a 'spontaneous vehement opinion.'" Her eyes narrowed even more, but her lips twitched slightly, like she was trying not to smile. "Give me a break. _You're_ lecturing _me_ on temper? You make me look like Buddha."

"Don't push it."

"Sorry. The point being, I'm not leaving. I mean, I still don't appreciate not being claimed…" I glanced upwards, hoping somebody would take the hint, but of course nothing happened. "But I'm still loyal to Camp Half-Blood, even if not Olympus." Thunder rumbled. I guess I'm not allowed to say that. "Ah, shut up," I muttered irritably.

Clarisse took a deep breath, like she wasn't sure how to reply. "I'm going to take a wider circle," she eventually said. "I won't be able to see you, so call me if you need me and I'll pulverize whoever's after you."

Now _I_ wasn't sure how to respond. "Thank… you?" I said, trying to figure out whether I'd just been insulted or not. I settled for exaggeratedly saluting her with my sword as she loped into the trees' shadows. If she saw me, she ignored me.

So I stood there in the woods, listening to the sounds of chaos in the distance and wondering where Clarisse was. It was sort of nerve-wracking, knowing that she was probably watching me, but not knowing where she was. Still, better than usual. Usually, Hermes and Ares were on opposite teams, and somehow Clarisse seemed to wind up almost killing me every time.

Suddenly, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. I whipped my head toward it, raising my sword, and saw a flash of blonde hair. Not Clarisse. But whoever it was had snuck by her, which meant they weren't someone to be trifled with. I crouched, waiting to see if they would come at me or not.

I heard something behind me. A tiny noise, so tiny that I wasn't entirely positive that I hadn't just imagined it. But I turned anyway. And to my surprise, our flag was mysteriously floating in midair, a foot behind me.

Hm.

Blonde hair. Invisibility. Annabeth, I realized, remembering the trick she'd pulled during the fight with the bulls. And she was taking our flag.

However, she was also about half my size, and the flag was visible. I knew the flags were magical, modified so that they couldn't be affected by any other enchantments. I guess whatever magical artifact she had usually extended to everything she touched, judging by the fact that there wasn't a disembodied suit of armor floating around behind me, but the flag wasn't affected.

I lunged after her, striking at where I estimated her to be judging by the red banner's position. I was right. My sword clanged off her armor, and she cursed in ancient Greek, her feet hitting the ground hard as she stumbled backwards. An invisible blade slashed at my sword arm. Technically that counted as "maiming," but we campers have sort of decided among ourselves that any injury that isn't permanent is fair. Which didn't really make me feel any better about the deep cut down my arm, but whatever.

It was sort of impossible to defend myself against an invisible weapon, so I went on the offensive, forcing Annabeth to parry. Then I got a stroke of luck, which wasn't something that happened to me all that often. I slashed at where I assumed her head was, and when she ducked, a hat fluttered to the ground. Suddenly, she was visible. She dove for the hat, but I beat her to it, slamming her backwards as I grabbed it.

"Nice one," Clarisse said, jogging into the clearing. She looked like she'd taken a tumble, but I had the feeling whoever she'd been fighting was probably much worse off. "I'll guard for a while. You get her to jail."

I nodded, groaning inwardly. Getting people to jail was always a nightmare, but it would be good to get Annabeth and her invisibility hat out of the game. Annabeth, of course, had other ideas. In demigod Capture the Flag, you don't just tag somebody to capture them. You have to actually physically get them into the jail. Which could be quite awkward, when the demigod in question was a girl three years younger than you.

Annabeth shot to her feet and bolted from the clearing. I sprinted after her, catching up in about five seconds. She whipped around, slashing at me again, and I sighed, grabbing her knife wrist. Then, of course, she just grabbed the knife with her other hand and opened another cut on my arm. I swore, but didn't let go of her wrist, grabbing the other one too.

Annabeth glared at me, dragging her feet, as I yanked her in the direction of the jail. We crashed through a few bushes, and I could see that the jail was completely empty. Well, crap. I had no idea who was supposed to be guarding it, but whoever it was, they weren't there. Maybe Clarisse had taken a few too many risks with her strategy. Not that I'd ever tell her that.

A foot from the tree that marked the edge, Annabeth flipped her knife in her hand, managing to stab me yet again. I guess I sort of deserved it for not disarming her, but I'd kind of logically assumed that she couldn't stab me when I had both her wrists. Wrong, apparently.

"Gods, Annabeth," I muttered, shoving her into the jail. "Watch it!" I half expected her to cheat and attack me again, but she only glared some more. I wondered whether I should stay and guard her, or go back and help guard the flag. But I figured that if anyone was attacking Clarisse there would be a lot of screams, and besides Annabeth was one of the more dangerous campers from the other team, so I may as well hang around. I paced around the edge of the clearing, ignoring the fact that she was looking daggers at me and thankful that she probably couldn't tell who I was because of my helmet.

I heard a noise in the woods and turned toward it. There was a vague, gold-ish glow shining through the trees, and I rolled my eyes. No question about who _that _could be.

Percy came flying out of the underbrush, his helmet missing its visor, looking like he was planning on skewering me with his glow-in-the-dark sword. Well, he was a lot more straightforward than his little girlfriend there, I'd give him that.

I raised my sword just in time to stop him from putting a dent in my helmet, then swung back, forcing him to block me. He was talented, I'd give him that. But I was about a foot taller than him, better trained, and much stronger.

Percy was attacking more fiercely than he usually did, and I got the feeling that he may have seen me push Annabeth. I actually felt a little guilty about doing that, but I _was_ just trying to stop her from stabbing me again, after all.

I wasn't really sure whether I had a grudge against Percy or not. I mean, I still hadn't quite forgiven him for knocking me over during the bull attack, but I knew it wasn't his fault. I think it was more that I just sort of resented him in general. Not fair, of course. But he got a quest his first summer here. I've been here six years. Still no quest. He was a son of one of the Big Three. I wasn't anybody's son, apparently.

So both of us were fighting like things were personal. He was trying every trick in the book, while I was fighting him with brute strength. Not my usual style, but it works when your opponent is an inexplicably-good-at-swordfighting thirteen-year-old. Percy stabbed at my stomach, and I saw my chance. I lunged forward, grabbing his sword wrist, like I'd done to Annabeth. His jaw dropped. Clearly, he wasn't accustomed to the unorthodox.

I dropped my sword, using my free hand to pry Percy's from his hand. But he was smarter than he looked. Rather than try to fight me for it, he just picked up my sword from where I'd dropped it, although I still had his sword hand. Or at least I did, until he opened yet another cut on my arm, with my own sword this time, and I let go in surprise.

So now we were right back where we'd started, except we had each other's weapons. That was to my advantage, though. My sword was my personal favorite, but in the years I'd been here, I'd trained to use pretty much anything. Percy, on the other hand, was eying the weapon he now held like it was a poisonous snake. The fact that it probably weighed about twenty pounds more than he was used to didn't seem to be doing him any favors, either.

We lunged simultaneously, although Percy was fighting far more clumsily than before. And he was predictable now, too. Before, he'd been alternating between moves meant to break a bone, knock me out… but now he was focusing solely on disarmament. I could see him getting frustrated. _Sucks to get beaten in front of the girl you like, huh?_ I thought spitefully. I guess he hadn't technically _beaten_ me during the bull attack, since he only knocked me down by accident, but I'm not sure whether that made me feel better or worse about it.

Then it occurred to me that I was being a remarkably horrible person. It happened occasionally. Although it seemed to be happening more and more since Percy had arrived. The thing that really bugged me was, he had absolutely no idea. He didn't know he'd knocked me down. He didn't know I was jealous of his being claimed. And he certainly had no idea that it was even me he was fighting right now, although that didn't seem to change the fact that he wanted to kill me as much as I wanted to kill him.

I finally lost it slightly. I pulled whatever-his-sword's-stupid-name-is back over my head, which is the number one thing not to do during a sword fight, but even Percy wasn't expecting something quite so spectacularly stupid. I swung the sword with all my strength, and Annabeth gave a little squeak behind me. Percy managed to parry the blow, barely, which was a good thing because if he hadn't I probably would have just committed semi-accidental murder, helmet or not. And I think he realized it, because he gave me a "Dude, what's wrong with you?" look.

Excellent question. I don't usually have that kind of a temper. Hades, I usually don't have a temper at all. But Percy wasn't the problem, and I knew it. It was just… if one of the Big Three, one of the gods who'd sworn on the river Styx not to have any children, could claim not one, but _two_ kids, _one of them a monster…_ would it really kill my dad to claim me?

I felt the dreaded kicked-puppy look creep onto my face, and promptly replaced it with a scowl. Percy seemed to sense my distraction, and struck at me, trying to hit my sore arm. Which seemed a little low to me, but then again I'd just come pretty close to killing him, so I guess I couldn't complain.

I knew, though, that I couldn't keep fighting him and keep my temper. The quickest way I could think of to end the fight was a little bit on the cheap side, but it was either that or I'd lose my temper completely and end up killing the poor kid. I pulled the same move as before, lunging and grabbing his sword arm. This time, instead of dropping the sword I had, I held it against his arm, hoping it would send a clear "drop it or else" message. I didn't want to hurt him, really, but I certainly wasn't above giving him a decent cut. Particularly considering what Annabeth had done to me. I didn't really want to threaten him out loud, since I figured that they both probably though I was a total psycho- not that they were wrong- and anonymity might be a good thing. But he got the message, and my sword fell to the ground.

I yanked him in the direction of the jail, swearing when he started thrashing and kicked me in the shin. He swung his free arm at my face, and I caught it an inch from my nose, going cross-eyed as I stared at his knuckles. "Watch it," I muttered irritably. He replied with some kind of ridiculous insult that I didn't bother to listen to. Then he glanced over my shoulder, and his face split into a grin.

Well, crap.

I could hear the crashing sounds behind me, drowned out until now by our fight. I turned just in time to find myself face-to-face with the same Cyclops as before. Admittedly, the odds that we would have _two_ random Cyclopes deciding to drop in were a bit slim, and he was claimed by Poseidon, after all- I tried not to think too hard about that, since I probably would've thrown another temper tantrum- so I guess I should have seen that coming. But honestly, Cyclopes weren't something we generally had to be on the lookout for during Capture the Flag.

Of course, the only reason that I was complaining to myself so much was probably because the Cyclops- Tyson, apparently- had plucked me straight off the ground. Percy slipped from my grasp. Whether accidentally or by design, the Cycl- er- Tyson had managed to pin my arms to my sides.

I glared at him as the sword tumbled to the earth. "That is Percy's sword," Tyson rumbled, his single huge eye right in my face. "You should not have Percy's sword." I scowled again, too pissed off to be concerned about small things like getting pinned by a Cyclops. And besides, that wasn't fair. Percy had my sword, too. Or at least he did, before I threatened him with grievous physical injury to make him drop it. But still.

Percy laughed somewhere on ground level. "Way to go, big guy."

Oh, yeah?

I swung my legs forward, kicking Tyson solidly in the chest with both feet. Which sounds mean, but I could've hit him in the eye if I'd really wanted to.

He grunted and dropped me, and the breath was knocked out of me as I hit the ground on my stomach with a _thud_. Before I could get up, the Cyclops had a massive hand on my back, shoving me back to the ground. Percy ran over to Annabeth, tagging her out of jail, and she promptly stalked over to me. She gave me a smug look and yanked her invisibility hat from under a strap of my armor, where I'd tucked it to return to her later. I should've just left it in the woods somewhere.

"You two watch him," she said, gesturing at me. I scowled, but she couldn't see my face under my helmet. "I'll get the flag. Don't let him warn whoever's guarding it."

Oh. Right. That's what I should've done in the first place: warn Clarisse. Annabeth might be able to sneak by her invisibly, but she wouldn't stand a chance if Clarisse knew she was coming.

Of course, just clapping a hand over my mouth or something to shut me up was far too subtle for the sons of Poseidon. As soon as I tried to breathe in so that I could yell to Clarisse, Tyson leaned down more on the hand on my back, smashing the air out of me.

"Whoa, big guy," Percy said. "Don't kill him."

Don't kill _me?_ I was going to kill _them!_

… As soon as I could stand up, at least. Which didn't look like it was going to be anytime soon.

I gave up on trying to twist away after a few minutes, since the only thing it really accomplished was making Tyson put more weight on my back. I was going to end up with a few broken ribs if he put any more pressure on me, but there was no way in Hades I was going sink so low as to ask him to lay off. Not that I was exactly at the height of dignity right now, with my face in the dirt, but still.

I tried to reach Tyson's hand with mine, although I'm not sure what exactly I hoped to accomplish. If he was fire-breathing metal bull-proof, he was probably unarmed-pissed-off-Chris-proof, too. It went pretty much as well as I'd expected. I ended up with another clumsy Cyclops hand on my recently healed arm, this one also exerting more pressure than I was really built for.

"Careful. Don't break him," Percy said, giving me this look like he was doing me a big favor. I probably growled at him like a wild animal. If any of them actually recognized me, and dared to reference the fact that this had happened, they were going to die slowly and painfully.

Although actually, I wasn't sure they'd know who I was even if they _could_ see my face.

"I am careful. He will not go boom," Tyson replied.

That's what _you_ think, I thought to myself. I couldn't get enough air to say it out loud. I felt like I was going to go boom, all right, but not like Tyson meant. I started struggling again, trying to raise myself off the ground, Cyclops hand or not. Instead, I ended up going absolutely nowhere, with Tyson's hand pressing down on my back so hard that I had to grit my teeth to stop myself from yelling.

Percy must have noticed me tense, because he said. "Seriously, big guy. You're going to break his ribs."

Gee, thanks for noticing. But the Cyclops did take some of his weight off of me. I could almost breathe now. Hurrah.

The conch horn sounded, and Tyson lifted his hand a little more, distracted. I finally twisted to the side and scrambled to my feet, breathing hard, and picked up my sword. My ribs hurt like Hades, but I was pretty sure he hadn't actually cracked them or anything.

Percy seemed to finally catch on to the fact that I was probably fairly pissed off, what with the whole 'setting a Cyclops on me' thing and all. "Uh… good game!" he said, smiling brightly, then turned and booked it out of the clearing. Tyson followed him, giving me a nervous look. Probably because I was holding my sword like I was planning on using it. I wasn't, of course. Maybe.

"Way to go," a voice said behind me. I turned, yanking my helmet off. Clarisse was leaning on her spear, one eyebrow raised. "With getting Annabeth in jail and all."

Gods damn helmet hair. I scowled, lamenting the fact that I probably looked like a deranged hedgehog. "I _did_ get her in jail. It's not my fault the whole Poseidon cabin came after me."

"The _whole_ Poseidon cabin? There are two of them."

"I think the Cyclops counts as at least three," I said indignantly, not trying to be funny, but Clarisse grinned.

"Well, it's a good thing you distracted them, anyway. I couldn't have taken all three at once."

"Taken all three at once? Didn't they win?"

Clarisse gave me a weird look. "What? No. We did."

My jaw dropped. "But… didn't Annabeth..?"

"Go after the flag? Sure, and she ended up with a nice bruise for her trouble. Remember, I play against her almost every time. I know her tricks. She only tried it on you because you're usually on the same team."

I nodded slowly, trying and failing to figure out what had just happened. She started walking in the direction of the creek, and I followed.

"How did you manage to get pine needles on the front of your armor?"

I looked down, scowling again. "That would be Tyson."

Clarisse started cracking up. I stared at her, utterly lost for words. I mean, I'd seen her laugh before, but not like this. Her laughing reminded me disturbingly of the Wicked Witch of the West, but I wisely elected to keep that observation to myself. I still didn't get what was so funny, but whatever; Clarisse is as Clarisse does.

"Ah, shut up," I muttered. "They ganged up on me. I would've had Percy in jail too if I hadn't gotten blitzed by a Cyclops."

Clarisse stopped laughing abruptly. "You fought Percy?" she asked eagerly.

"I… yeah?"

"And?" Her slightly disturbing reddish-brown eyes were practically glowing. "You said you were winning?"

"Winning? I almost killed him about four times," I muttered ruefully. "I'd disarmed him when Tyson showed up."

Clarisse looked the happiest I'd ever seen her, like she was about to break out in a jig or something. She started cackling again, and I mentally nicknamed her Elphaba. She thumped me on the shoulder with her armored hand, which sort of hurt, but whatever.

"Um, anytime," I said uncertainly. I wasn't really sure it counted as a victory when I had ended up on my face in the dirt, but if she wanted to give me credit, sure.

We arrived at the creek as the rest of the campers drifted over. I saw Percy and his friends on the opposite side, obviously angry, and I did my best to sort of hide behind Clarisse without it being really obvious that I was doing so. I didn't figure it would improve my summer if they somehow recognized my armor or something, and realized it was me who'd tried to murder Percy.

I had to confess, though, as Clarisse grinned at me, that maybe a near miss of first-degree manslaughter had been worth it.

**Hmm. A bit more Evil!Chris than I'd intended. Are you guys still cool with him, or do you all hate him now? XD I tried to keep Percy and co. in character, but give a bit of an idea of how the other campers might feel about their infuriating tendency to win at life. And I'm fully aware that Percy's supposed to be an excellent swordsman, but remember, this is at the beginning of Sea of Monsters, when he's had pretty much zero training. Plus Chris would definitely have the size and strength advantages, so I could sort of see it playing out like that. **

**And yes, I'm aware Clarisse is OOC at the end there, but I couldn't resist. ;) Oh, for those sad souls out there who don't know, Elphaba is the Wicked Witch of the West's real name in Wicked. How Chris would know that, I have no idea. Apparently he likes musicals. Just work with me here. :D**


	6. A Little on the Kumbaya Side

**Huh. This is one of the more pointless chapters I've written. Ah well, it's mildly entertaining at least. And you know how Chris said he doesn't usually have a temper? Uh, yeah, he lied. He likes to think so, but… he's wrong. Also, I'm aware that Clarisse is OOC. The whole point is that she acts differently when Chris is the only person around. You'll have noticed that she returns to her old psychotic self whenever they're not alone together. How very fluffy of me. Also, references to the Labyrinth and/or insanity are meant to be cruelly ironic. :D**

The line of campers spread out as we strolled through the woods back to our cabins. It took me a while to realize that I was walking alone with Clarisse. And I knew that the next people in front of us were Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson, which pretty much meant that she wasn't going to try to leave me behind.

It occurred to me that I was considering the possible escape strategies of a girl I was walking through the woods with on a dark night. Apparently, I really was that creepy. Although the fact that Clarisse was about four times more dangerous than I was somewhat negated it.

She was still in an unusually happy mood. I tried not to think about exactly what that said about her, considering that her happiness was almost definitely prompted by the fact that I had almost murdered Percy Jackson. I could hear his group clomping through the trees ahead of us, Tyson making more noise than a herd of particularly clumsy yaks.

I looked down at my arm and sighed, wishing I'd worn more armor than just a helmet and a breastplate over my black T-shirt. My collarbone was sore from getting smashed against the rim of my breastplate, and my forearms were slashed to pieces.

"How'd that happen?" Clarisse asked, sounding unusually interested as she gestured at my arms. Apparently injuries sustained during battle were some of the few things she found worth talking about.

"Annabeth," I replied ruefully.

Clarisse scowled. "Yeah, me too." She yanked the strap of her armor to the side, and I could see where Annabeth's knife had slashed the back of her shoulder.

"Sorry about that," I said guiltily. "I did try to warn you."

She gave me a weird look. "How, exactly, did you manage to fail at warning me that there was an invisible demigoddess coming at me?"

I sighed. "Did I mention the fact that the only reason I didn't kill Percy was because I got a bit detained by a Cyclops? I swear I've got a Cyclops-hand-shaped bruise on my back."

"A Cyclops- you know what, I don't even want to know," she said wryly, shaking her head slowly.

"You really don't," I agreed.

Clarisse seemed to consider something for a moment. Before I could realize that this was a bit ominous, or even wonder what it was she was considering, she suddenly smacked me right between the shoulder blades.

"_Ow!_" I yelped indignantly. "What in Hades was that for? I just said I-"

"Sorry." The fact that she was cackling as she said it didn't exactly back up the apology, although I guess with Clarisse you have to take what you could get. "I had to know whether you were serious."

"Clearly, I was. And you know something? I think you enjoy my pain a little _too_ much."

She blinked. "So you're saying there would be a _right_ amount for me to enjoy your pain?"

Well, that threw me off. "Um, I mean…" Huh. What, exactly, was I supposed to reply to that?

Clarisse grinned smugly. "Oh, I know _exactly_ what you mean."

… Did I mention that she scares me sometimes?

I shook my head, bewildered, and decided that it was safer not to reply. She marched ahead of me, but I got the feeling that she was laughing silently. I honestly think I could have mapped out Daedalus' Labyrinth before I'd understand what went on in Clarisse La Rue's head.

I didn't think any of the other girls at camp could pull off battle armor quite like she did.

I finally decided that it would probably be a good idea for me to catch up to her, since even I thought I was being a bit on the creepy side at the moment. But Clarisse stopped abruptly, and in order to avoid crashing into her I ended up diving to the side so hastily that I tripped and smacked my head on a tree. She turned, giving me an exasperated look. "Please tell me there was a root or something there, even though I know that the dryads maintain this path perfectly and there definitely wasn't."

"Um… nope. No root. There was, however, my foot."

"So you're saying you just tripped over your own feet. I thought that was just an expression. I doubt I could do that if I tried."

"Well, technically I didn't say it. You did."

Clarisse gave me a look like she was trying to decide whether to punch me or laugh. Or possibly laugh while punching me.

"Anyway, that was your fault," I pointed out. "You stopped."

"I… stopped. Uh, yes. People do that occasionally."

"Well, you shouldn't when there's someone walking right behind you."

She gave me a long, searching look. "That's why you should respect my personal bubble."

She… personal bubble. _Personal. Godsdamned. Bubble. _Clarisse La Rue just said the phrase "personal bubble" with a completely straight face. I blinked, rendered honestly speechless for a good few seconds.

"Please tell me you're messing with me," I managed to say after a while.

"As always."

What… in… Hades. Why did I even try?

I closed my eyes and tilted my head back, raising my arms to appeal to any deity that would listen. "What did I ever do to deserve this?" I lamented.

"Well, you're still here, for one thing," she pointed out neutrally.

"True. Very true."

"Still here."

"Yup."

"Aaand… _still_."

"Um… yeah. What, should I not be?"

"No, I didn't mean I wanted you to- _No!_ I meant…"

I gave her the exact same smug grin she'd shot at me a few minutes ago. "Oh, I know _exactly_ what you mean," I echoed her.

"Shut _up._ It was a literal question. I _mean_ that I wasn't actively ordering you to scram, although I'm certainly considering it right about now."

I raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Sure you are. I don't really think you can order me out of the woods, anyway."

"I can chase you."

"… Um, yes, I suppose you could."

Clarisse nodded, a bit more gratified.

It occurred to me that I'd never actually figured out why she stopped in the first place. I also realized that the other campers had kept moving, and now there was a gaggle of Aphrodite girls who's been there for gods-knew-how-long standing there staring at us.

"Aw, Hades," I muttered. "Not you again."

"Hey!" Silena beamed, fluttering past us toward the stream.

Well, that wasn't so bad, I guess? I'd been expecting much, much worse. Then, of course, she had to ruin it. "Remember what I told you," she said with a huge wink, before she and her friends vanished into the trees.

"How do they manage to turn up on all of the rare occasions that you're _not_ trying to kill me?" I cried defeatedly.

Clarisse considered it. "Well, there was that one time when… oh, wait. That was time with the crowbar." I winced, repressing traumatic memories. "What did she tell you?"

"… Um," I began. I'm the worst liar in the world, but I didn't really think that telling Clarisse that Silena had informed me she "totally wanted me" was the best idea. Particularly when Clarisse was armed and I was already hurt.

But I was saved by an amber glow coming through the trees ahead of us. Clarisse raised an eyebrow, and I could hear the campers behind us chattering interestedly, speeding up to try to reach whatever was going on. She turned off the path to the left, evading the Aphrodite girls.

"Wait up," I hissed, darting after her. Without thinking, I reached out and grabbed her hand.

Clarisse froze, tensing, and I dropped it like I'd been burned. Well. Oops. So much for all of my hopes, dreams, and ambitions, because she was going to kill me.

But when she turned, she didn't show any sign of being at all bothered. In fact, she was… smiling? No way. Except, holy Hades, she _was_. She was trying her level best to act like she wasn't, but she absolutely was.

I took a deep breath, resisting the urge to do a happy dance.

Clarisse turned away again without saying anything and loped off silently. We arrived at the edge of the woods, me still struggling not to look like a lovesick puppy, and lingered among the tree trunks. Campers were streaming out of the mouth of the path a few yards away, forming a circle around the demigod kid I'd tripped on a while ago, the one who'd been there when Connor had stolen my helmet. Because there was a glowing bushel of barley hovering above his head.

I breathed in sharply through my nose, closing my eyes as my good mood evaporated incredibly quickly. I really, really was not good at dealing with other kids being claimed. I mean, I wasn't all that jealous of the kid getting claimed by Demeter. No offense to her or anything, it was just that her cabin was a little on the Kumbaya side for me.

But still. Tyson being claimed had almost made me lose it, and this kid was pretty much the tiny push that sent me off a cliff. I wasn't mad at my dad, whoever he was. Not really. I mean, I tried to be. Consciously, I hated him with a passion. But deep down, it just made me sad. I couldn't shake the feeling that he _did_ know who I was, and was just choosing to ignore me. It was completely unreasonable, of course, but I couldn't for the life of me convince myself otherwise.

And I knew what would happen next. The Demeter kids would get all psyched, and every time I tried to go into the strawberry fields for the next week the vines would get all excited and almost strangle me. The other campers would congratulate the new guy, and he'd be over the moon about it. He'd go completely over-the-top experimenting with his new powers, and we'd end up with branches growing out of the dead wood that made up the wall of the Hermes cabin. And all the unclaimed, myself included, would be in rotten moods for weeks, snapping at each other and making the entire camp tense and irritable.

And I honestly couldn't put up with the whole episode yet again. I wasn't mad at the kid. I wasn't mad at anyone but my dad, and maybe myself a little bit, too. But I knew for an absolute fact, particularly after what had just happened with Percy, that if I didn't do anything I was going to go completely ballistic and do something I would regret.

So I stepped back silently, melting into the trees. Clarisse kept her back to me, either not noticing what I was doing or not reacting. Somehow, I think she knew, although she definitely had the wrong impression. Because I didn't mean to _leave_. I just needed to get away, if only for a few minutes.

I loped deeper into the woods, looking over my shoulder once. Clarisse's hair shimmered in the amber light as it fell against her bronze armor. She leaned on her spear, and her back moved like she had taken a deep breath. Like she knew that I had left, but she didn't know what to do about it.

**Dun dun dun dunnn.**

**Ah, feel the lurve in the air. As to the Demeter cabin being a little "Kumbaya," listen to the song and I think you'll agree with Chris' observation. Reviews are, as always greatly appreciated. Come on, people, I can see the traffic, I know you're there. ;)**


	7. Relatively Politic

**Hmm. Methinks we've discovered his fatal flaw, no?**

I didn't look back again as I slipped through the woods. With every step, I grew increasingly furious with myself. Kids were going to get claimed. I wasn't. I had to find a way to deal with that, other than taking off to stomp around the woods for a few hours.

I crashed through a few shrubs, immediately feeling even guiltier when I heard the dryads muttering and complaining behind me. I had to stop taking my temper out on other people. And, uh, nymphs. I jumped the creek, following it idly toward the border of camp. For once, I was happy that no one was likely to notice I was missing. Except maybe Clarisse, I realized. I was pretty sure she'd seen me go, and she'd want an explanation when I got back. The thing was, I didn't really have one, aside from the fact that being unclaimed was getting really, _really _old.

It occurred to me that I wasn't entirely sure where I was. I was still on the streambank, but the trees were completely unfamiliar, and I realized with a jolt that I had unknowingly wandered right over the border. That was usually pretty difficult to do without noticing, but I guess Thalia's tree was so weak that I hadn't sensed anything at all.

I sighed, deciding that I'd better get back to camp before something nasty snuck up on me. I turned.

Something nasty had snuck up on me.

"You're not Andrew," said the guy. He was relatively normal looking, carrying a spear and wearing a hunting cap. I was pretty sure he was a monster, though. Maybe the fact that he was about four feet taller than me had tipped me off.

"Um… no. No I am not," I agreed, trying to back up and slip around him. Suddenly, I knew who he was. He was one of the Aloadai, two giants who had tried to take over Olympus by stacking three mountains on top of each other. Ares had tried to stop them, but he'd ended up trapped inside a bronze urn for thirteen months until Artemis had finally disguised herself as a deer and tricked them into stabbing each other.

Oh, wait. _Two_ giants. Dammit.

I had backed straight into the other one. I took a split second to spit out the best swear I could come up with, then dove to the side right as the first giant jabbed his spear at me. Of course, I remembered a second too late how, exactly, Artemis had beaten them. In deer form, she had leaped right between the two of them, so that they threw their spears at her and hit each other.

"Hey!" the first guy yelled furiously, obviously having déjà vu. Luckily for me, though, he seemed to forget about me for a moment, turning to yell at his brother instead. "We've covered this, moron! Something jumps between us, _I _stab, _you_ jump back!"

"Sorry," the other one muttered. I noticed that he was sporting a feather at a jaunty angle in his hat. "It was his fault, anyway," Feather Hat said.

The first one turned and glared at me like he was just remembering I was there. "Where is Andrew?" he growled. I had no idea what he was talking about. There were two Andrews at camp, an Apollo guy and an Aphrodite guy, but I had no clue why either of them would be meeting a pair of giants out in the woods. Although with children of Aphrodite you never knew.

Instead of answering him, I decided to turn tail and book it back toward camp. I could have taken one of the Aloadai, maybe, but two at once was pushing my luck a bit. And besides, the border couldn't have been far, could it? Even if the giants crossed it, it would set off some kind of an alarm in the Big House, and some other campers would come help me. Unless of course Tantalus didn't let them, but even then I'd just be back where I started, so it was worth a shot. And I had a feeling that Clarisse would know it was me who was in trouble, and she'd come help me, Tantalus or not.

There's something that demigods, myself included, always forget about fighting giants. And that thing is, they're not just stronger than we are. They're a hell of a lot faster, too, since they take such enormous strides. Feather Hat took exactly three steps to catch up to me. I heard his spear whistling through the air and ducked, only to get smacked on the back of my head by the handle of it. I staggered, but managed not to fall over, sorely regretting leaving my helmet behind at the edge of the woods. Then again, I couldn't have exactly foreseen that I was going to end up fighting a couple of giants later. Just my luck, really. Wasn't getting beaten up by a Cyclops enough for one night?

Suddenly, the other giant was ahead of me, and he was way more than ten feet tall now. His head almost rose above the treetops, and his massive foot slammed down right in front of me.

Dammit. Could all giants do that, grow bigger at will? That was a new one on me. I tried to dodge around him, but he reached down and swatted me with his hand, sending me flying into a tree. Before I could get up, Feather Hat, who was still ten feet tall, had his spear leveled at my throat.

What got me, though, was that I still didn't have a clue what was going on. What in Hades were they doing outside Camp Half-Blood? Who was Andrew? And most importantly, why wasn't I already dead? Monsters and half-bloods didn't usually do things like this. We pretty much did our level best to kill each other as quickly as we could, and the fact that they weren't doing that made me quite sure they were up to something. Whatever it was, I doubted I'd like it much.

"Oh, there you-" a voice said. Both of the giants turned as a boy walked out from the underbrush. He was maybe twelve or so, with dirty blond hair and brown eyes. Andrew Wiltshire, Apollo's son. "Oh," he said, catching sight of me sprawled against the tree trunk with the giant's spear almost pricking my throat.

Yeah, that about summed it up. There were a few choice words I could think of to say to him, actually. What was he _doing? _He was claimed, for the gods' sakes! What did he have to be mad about? Although Luke had been claimed too, I supposed…

But still, his arrival had distracted the giants. The one who had been thirty feet tall shrank back down to ten. While Feather Hat's attention was on the kid too, I twisted out from between the tree and his spear point.

"Hey!" the giant cried when he turned back and saw me on my feet. He growled angrily, lunging. I growled right back at him and ducked the strike, slashing at his chest. My sword opened a pretty deep gash, and he howled and waved his arms, sending me flying again. Andrew's jaw dropped. The other giant charged at me, and I turned to face him. By now, I was back to being good and pissed off. Really, I was madder at Andrew than I was at the giants, but it was pretty easy to channel my temper seeing as it was them who were currently trying to kill me.

Feather Hat's brother stormed straight at me. I whirled on him furiously. Before I knew what had happened, I had rammed my sword into his chest.

I stepped back, a little shocked, as he screamed and exploded into dust. I didn't usually have a problem with killing monsters, but this guy had been way too human.

Andrew gave a little gasp behind me, and I realized a second too late that I'd let my guard down. I turned, just in time for Feather Hat to pounce on me, one of his hands around my chest, the other holding my sword arm. Maybe he hadn't been intending to kill me before, but he sure as hell was now. Feather Hat seemed to have grown twenty more feet out of pure rage, and my feet hung in midair as he snarled in my face.

"Stop!" Andrew yelled frantically. Oh, fantastic. _Now_ he tries to help. Maybe if he hadn't decided to turn traitor, there wouldn't have been a pair of giants right outside the border in the first place. "You should… um… Luke will want to see him!"

Luke? I doubted that. We'd been cabin mates, friends even, but I found it hard to believe that he'd want to see me right now. The giant hesitated, though. "Luke would never know if I killed him!"

Andrew took a deep breath, thinking. "But if you bring him to Luke, Luke will probably… um… give you…"

"Venison?" the giant said, letting go of my sword arm to stroke his chin reflectively. Infuriatingly, though, he had grown so huge that I wouldn't have been able to hit anything but his arm with my sword, which probably only would've resulting in me getting squashed or dropped. Both of which I preferred to avoid, given the choice.

"Yes!" Andrew announced triumphantly. "Venison! Venison _burgers_!"

The monster nodded slowly, then turned his attention back to me. Almost instantly, though, I could see his good mood vanish as he remembered just how much he wanted to kill me. He muttered some kind of insult or curse I didn't catch, throwing me carelessly to the ground thirty feet below.

For a moment, all I could see was the evening sky above me. I closed my eyes, wincing in anticipation, because I was quite sure that this was going to hurt.

I hit the dirt flat on my back. Something cracked. Dazed, I tried to take a breath, then gasped when the worst pain I'd felt in my life ripped through my chest. It felt like one of those aliens from the movies was tearing its way out. Clearly, I'd broken a few ribs. Just my luck. I manage not to get crushed by Tyson, and then a _different _giant shows up to finish the job. I'd thought breaking my arm had hurt, but this was ten times worse. Honestly. Two bones broken in as many weeks. Probably more, actually. Why was it always me?

Feather Hat reached into his pocket and pulled out, of all things, a cell phone. I'd never really bothered to think about how Kronos' army communicated. We half-bloods couldn't use cell phones since they attracted the monsters, but now that I thought about it it made perfect sense for the monsters themselves to use them. It was still peculiar-looking, though; the enormous man mashing unsuccessfully at the tiny buttons. Feather Hat had to be fifty feet tall by now. I half expected him to be seen from camp, but nobody seemed to be coming to help.

While the giant was distracted, Andrew crept over. "Sorry," he whispered.

I glared at him. I couldn't help it. I knew it was just as much my fault as it was his, since I'd been stupid enough to cross the border, but still. He was the reason Kronos' goons were here. "Why in Hades did you call them?" I spat through gritted teeth. Even getting enough air to talk hurt unbelievably.

He actually had the nerve to scowl. "Because_,_ I wanted to leave, obviously. How was I supposed to know you'd be here? What do you want me to do about it?"

Well, the last one was a good question at least. I certainly wasn't going to ask a twelve-year-old to fight a giant, but it wasn't like he could heal... oh. Right.

"You're Apollo's son, aren't you?" I snapped.

That just made him angry. His hands balled into fists. "No. I'm not."

_Very true. You're probably a son of Aphrodite, you little drama queen,_ I thought to myself. I was tempted to say it out loud, but I wasn't really in a position to be anything but politic at the moment. "Well, then, see if you were born with completely _natural_ magical healing powers!" I grumbled, rolling my eyes.

Okay, _relatively_ politic.

Andrew glared at me again, but started muttering in Ancient Greek. It had pretty much the same effect as nectar and ambrosia. The pain wasn't as agonizing as before, but I definitely wasn't fighting Feather Hat anytime soon. Particularly because the giant in question chose that moment to turn back to us, snapping his cell phone shut in a bizarrely businesslike manner. "Yes. I won't kill you. Luke said he'd give me venison burgers." He grinned at me, like he was expecting me to congratulate him or something. I stared back bemusedly.

"Are we going now?" Andrew asked, rising to his feet. I tried not to groan when he stopped chanting, the pain in my ribs intensifying again.

"Yes," the giant grinned, reaching toward me. I realized what was going to happen a second before it did. I swore bitterly, right before he wrapped a huge hand around my chest, lifting me up as I yelled in pain. The yell only made it worse. I gasped for breath, fighting the instinct to cry out again. And won, because I passed out about two seconds later.

**When in doubt, knock out the narrator. Lazy of me, yes, but the whole transition to what happens next would've been pretty boring anyway. Sorry if this was a bit on the melodramatic side, I can never resist. And yes, I'm canonbending a bit here. But who knows, maybe this really _was_ how it happened and Percy just had his story wrong. What does Percy know? Also, yes, you can break your ribs from falling onto your back. Yes, you could survive a thirty foot fall with only a few broken ribs. And yes, broken ribs most certainly _do_ hurt that much. At least according to Google. ;)**

**Is it "snuck" or "sneaked?" There seems to be some debate about that... huh. I just went with the one that sounded right. Any feedback is appreciated. :)**


	8. A Plethora of New Swear Words

**Well, for better or for worse, you can expect ridiculously fast updates, seeing as it's winter break and I've got nothing better to do.**

Gods _damn _it.

The moment I woke up, I pretty much hated life.

Really, I knew I was lucky I hadn't gotten a rib through the lung or something, but at the moment I might have welcomed it. Every tiny moment hurt agonizingly, but staying completely still wasn't really an option if I wanted to breathe. And shockingly enough, I did in fact want to breathe.

Without opening my eyes, I could tell that I was lying on the deck of a ship. I could feel the textured deck under my fingertips, and the floor was moving beneath my back, more than it should have been if whatever boat or ship I was on was in Long Island Sound. I could tell that my sword and breastplate had been taken away.

I cracked my eyes open, not really sure what I was expecting, but not expecting anything good. Instead, I was staring up at the night sky, millions of stars twinkling brightly above me. Which scared the hell out of me, because you can't see the stars that well anywhere near New York City. Either I'd been unconscious for a long time, or something very weird was going on.

Well, obviously something weird was going on; I knew that. I'd just been all but kidnapped by Kronos' forces, after all.

I tilted my head to my right. At first, all I could see was a bunch of legs. I was behind a small crowd of people, most of them little kids in the nine-to-fourteen range. We were all on the deck of what looked like a luxury cruise liner. There was a swimming pool and snack bar beyond them, and a shuffleboard court with a bunch of _dracaenae_ and demigods playing. A familiar voice spoke from beyond the crowd of kids.

"You are now part of the army of the Lord of Time," Luke said.

… Did that include me, I wondered? Because if Luke thought I was joining him… yeah, we'd have to see about that.

I knew I was hopeless against him in a swordfight, but hey, who needed swords? He might've been older, but I was at least three inches taller than he was. I could just tackle him and that would be the end of that.

… Except, breathing was about all I could manage at the moment. Even standing up was dubious. Gods _damn_ that giant.

Luke gave some kind of an order, and the kids were led off by a few _dracaenae. _Which of course left me there all alone, surrounded by monsters and an old cabin mate.

"Chris," Luke frowned, walking over and sitting on the deck next to me. He waved a hand behind him, and the monsters that had been watching dispersed. "What happened to you?" he asked flatly.

"Your moron of a giant happened. He dropped me thirty feet," I snapped, ignoring the pain it caused. "Why in Hades didn't you just tell him to let me go?" Actually, if Luke had told Feather Hat that, the giant probably would've just killed me, or dropped me anyway and left me in the woods… but still. I knew full well that this was probably another situation where being nice would've been advantageous, but I didn't do _nice._ Not for Luke.

"You know perfectly well why," Luke said flatly. "Either you fight for us or you don't fight at all."

So. He was threatening me. "Well, I'm sure as Hades not fighting for you, so I guess you're going to have to decide what to do about that," I replied brusquely. I knew I was taking a gamble, but I was ninety percent sure that Luke wouldn't kill me. He'd been with the Titans for less than a year, and besides, we'd been cabin mates for a long time before he left.

Luke scowled. "Let me ask you something, Chris. Why were you out there in the woods? The Aloadai would never have found you if you'd stayed in camp."

I narrowed my eyes, knowing full well where he was going with this. "Alright, fine. I ran because I was pissed off, okay?"

"And why was that?" Luke smirked.

I took a deep breath, and immediately regretted it. The lines in Luke's brow deepened when I winced, which I took as a pretty good sign that he wasn't eager to kill me. "Because a kid got claimed," I muttered resentfully.

"_Exactly!_" Luke crowed. "You of all people have to know what I'm talking about. The gods don't care about us! Look around!" I could see him getting worked up. He gestured enthusiastically, coming pretty close to smacking me a few times.

"Watch it," I grumbled. He didn't seem to hear me. But the thing was, I actually _was_ hearing him. It really wasn't too much to ask for my dad to claim me, was it? And it wasn't just about me. Why should heroes have to fight monsters in the first place? They would only reform. We would die. The gods were immortal; why couldn't _they _do it? Why was anybody still starving to death when there was a goddess of agriculture? Why were there storms that killed hundreds of people when all that had to be done to prevent them was for Zeus and Poseidon to chill out a bit?

I didn't like the gods. I had known that already. But that didn't mean I liked the Titans, either. I knew my mythology. I knew what the world had been like under them, and however bad the gods might have been, the Titans would be worse.

And besides, there were still my friends to think about. So maybe I wasn't a huge fan of Olympus. But I would never betray Camp Half-Blood, and there was no way I was joining Luke.

"Chris, you have to know the Titans are going to win," Luke said earnestly, bringing me back to reality. "And they _should _win. This age is falling apart."

"Um… Luke," I said flatly. "Could I just point something out to you? The only reason I haven't wrung your neck yet is because _your recruiters broke my bones._ Do you honestly think I'm okay with that?"

Luke frowned again, as if it was finally occurring to him that I just might see that as a problem. "Huh. I'll ask you later, I think," he said. I raised a skeptical eyebrow, but didn't reply. He turned, yelling to a few demigods crossing the deck. "Hey, get over here!" They sprinted over as fast as they could. They were all wearing helmets, but I could tell by their heights that they couldn't have been much older than the kids I'd seen before. So Kronos could only get little kids to fight for him. Yeah, I definitely stood by my decision not to join.

Except, didn't the gods do the exact same thing?

"Take him to the promenade deck," Luke ordered the kids.

I glowered, tempted to stick my tongue out at him. I smacked away the hand of a kid who was reaching for my arm. Maybe they were just trying to help, but they'd only make me pass out again if they tried to drag me upright. I managed to stagger to my feet, almost blacking out and probably teaching the demigods surrounding me a plethora of new swear words in the process.

"This way, please," Luke said, gesturing elegantly with his sword. He turned, striding off in the direction he had indicated. I gritted my teeth, forced to follow him more quickly than I would have liked, hemmed in by the armored kids. I scowled, trying to ignore the fact that I was being pushed around by a bunch of twelve-year-olds. Most of them seemed to be utterly terrified of me, though, which I had to admit was gratifying. But it made me wonder what kinds of horrible stories they'd been told about demigods who went to Camp Half-Blood.

"You really need a crew of twelve-year-olds for backup, Luke?" I muttered at his back as he led the way. "What, afraid you can't take me even with a bunch of broken ribs?"

Luke ignored me. One of the kids, though, poked me in the back with his sword, hard enough to draw blood. "I'm fourteen."

I stopped, turning and growling dangerously at the kid. "Don't you ever-"

"_Chris,_" Luke said, his voice equally ominous. The kid smirked, and I clenched my jaw, taking a deep breath. Which, of course, hurt like Hades. We started walking again wordlessly.

I ended up being left in a stateroom halfway down the hall, with the door locked from the outside. I had a horrible suspicion that I would end up getting forgotten about in here, but at least they didn't chuck me in the cargo hold or something.

It was a nice room, but it was one of the windowless ones on the inside of the ship, which I wasn't a huge fan of. I guess they didn't want me breaking the window or something. Understandable. The more I looked around, though, the smaller the room seemed. There was another door in one of the side walls, I assumed to the room next to mine, but it was locked, too.

I sat down gingerly on the couch, wondering what to do next. I could always try to break through a wall, I supposed, but I preferred to give myself a few days to heal before doing anything like that. I'd need weeks, actually, if they didn't give me nectar and ambrosia.

So I sighed, feeling extremely sorry for myself. I picked up the remote and clicked the TV on for lack of anything more productive to do. Oh boy. Satellite.

I had just resigned myself to a rerun of _House _when there was a clicking sound from the door to the adjoining room. I raised an eyebrow, watching interestedly as the door slowly opened and a face popped hesitantly inside.

"Hi," the tiny girl said. "I'm Mary."

**Actually, I was originally going to have him chucked in the cargo hold with the drakon. :D But I decided this made a little more sense. Reviews continue to be my favorite thing. (Well... not really. But you know what I mean.)**


	9. I'm Too Mature for This

**Yeah, scratch that whole expect-frequent-updates thing, for a few days at least. I'm getting my wisdom teeth out tomorrow, which means I'll probably be looped out for a while. :( And this chapter sort of annoys me, to tell the truth. Too much dialogue, although I didn't have much of a choice. Things will pick up again later, never fear. ;)**

Well, that was unexpected. "Hello, Mary," I said bemusedly. "I'm Chris. What were you doing in there?"

She shrugged, still halfway through the doorway. "Same as you, I guess."

"You mean you stood up to Luke?" I had to admit, I was impressed. I knew Luke could be pretty intimidating when he wanted to be, and Mary couldn't have been more than ten or so. "Why?"

Mary shrugged again. "Because Titans are mean, aren't they? I read about them. The library had a big red book."

Now I was even more impressed. But I also knew that if she kept resisting them, she was going to end up dead. "Look, Mary," I sighed. "You're absolutely right. The Titans _are _mean, but they'll kill you if you don't join." I guess I could have phrased that a bit more gently, but dealing with little kids without scaring the hell out of them wasn't exactly my strong suit.

Mary stuck out her bottom jaw. "Well, they shouldn't do that! I don't have to fight for them if I don't want to!"

"I know you shouldn't," I said, "But _please_ just join. You're not helping anyone by dying." I felt sort of guilty for giving Kronos one more soldier, but I figured Camp Half-Blood could handle a tiny ten-year-old, and I figured she had much better survival prospects that way.

She narrowed her eyes, raising an eyebrow and giving me a look way too cynical to be possible on the face of a kid her age. "Well, why don't you join then?" she asked shrewdly.

I sighed. "Because I'm from the other side. If I joined, I'd be a traitor. If you joined, you'd just be a regular old soldier."

"You're nicer than them."

I had no idea why a ten-year-old's approval meant so much to me, but I couldn't stop myself from smiling. "Well, thanks, Mary. But I still don't want you getting yourself killed."

Mary scowled, looking like she was about to stomp her foot. "I'm not fighting people like you for people like them! I'm not!"

"There are, uh, mean people at Camp Half-Blood, too, you know."

She shot me the same cynical look. "Like who?"

"Well, there's a daughter of Ares who beats me up all the time, for one thing."

Mary snorted. "Yeah, right. You let her."

"I promise you, I don't," I muttered resentfully.

"All right, fine. Who else?"

"… Um." I struggled desperately to think of anyone else at Camp Half-Blood who could be described as anything even approaching "mean." Percy and his friends could grate on my nerves, sure, but they meant well. Children of Hermes were always up to no good, children of Ares were always a little psychotic, but that was just who they were.

"I thought so," she gloated. "I'm _not_ fighting your friends, Chris." And by the way she said it, I knew that absolutely nothing I could say would convince her otherwise. I'd just lost an argument with a ten-year-old.

"Why don't you come in, Mary," I sighed, recognizing the battle as lost. She smiled triumphantly, slipping through the doorway and flopping on the couch next to me.

"So how'd you end up here?" she asked curiously.

I scowled. "I went outside the borders of camp by accident and got captured by a giant."

"A… giant," she repeated. I realized that she was probably new to the mythological world. Kronos' people must have been racing the satyrs to find new demigods.

"Technically two of them," I shrugged. "But I killed the first one."

Mary looked like she wasn't entirely sure she believed me. "You killed a giant and you didn't fight Luke?"

"_A_ giant, yes," I pointed out. "But then its brother almost killed _me._"

"Oh." She nodded understandingly. "It broke your ribs?"

I raised my eyebrows. "Yeah. How'd you know that?"

Mary shrugged. "I could tell."

Huh. Maybe she was another child of Apollo. That would be nice. I forced myself to ignore the vague dislike of Apollo kids in general that Andrew had given me. "Did a symbol ever appear above your head?" I asked. I figured that if she didn't think I was completely insane, she probably knew what I was talking about.

"Yeah," she said. "A golden bow. Right when the monsters grabbed me. And yeah, I know," she said, cutting me off. "Apollo. That was in the red book, too."

I nodded, struggling to ignore my perpetual resentment about other people being claimed. "Cool," I said, struggling to sound at least mildly enthusiastic.

"Who's your godly parent?" she asked curiously.

Ouch. "I … don't really know," I said quietly. I think she could tell it was a sore subject, because she didn't pursue it.

"So tell me about that daughter of Ares, then," she said with a smirk.

My jaw dropped. "Wha- why are you so interested in her?" I faltered.

Mary laughed. "Because you turned bright red when you mentioned her."

… Oh. Oops. "No I most certainly did not," I replied indignantly, even though I knew full well that I probably had.

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Did too"

"I'm too mature for this."

There was a pause while we studied each other warily.

"… Did too-o."

I glowered at her silently, refusing to reply. She only laughed again. "Fine, be like that. I already know, anyway."

Was I really that obvious? Did everyone but Clarisse know? A horrible thought struck me. What if Silena had told Clarisse the same thing about me that she'd told me about Clarisse? But if Clarisse knew, and she hadn't murdered me yet, then maybe…

"So… what do we do?" Mary asked out of the blue.

"Wha? Oh, uh… hmm. You mean to get off the ship?" She nodded. "We wait until my ribs heal, wait for someone to open the door, and then I kill them if they're a monster or knock them out if they're a demigod," I shrugged. It was a pretty obvious plan, but it was the best I could come up with. Although now I'd be trying to escape the ship with a little girl in tow instead of being solo, which could complicate things a bit, but there was no way I was leaving her behind.

… **Aaand Foaly has writer's block. This chapter took me pretty much all day, and I still hate it. :( The next chapter might not be all that much better, but the one after that should be pretty good. **


	10. The Delusional Man Himself

**This is the last boring chapter, I promise. Oh, and I was technically drugged when I wrote this- wisdom tooth surgery, like I said- so, yeah. I don't want to hear about any stray Scooby-Doo references, got it? ;)**

It took me a ridiculously long time to realize that all my friends probably hated my guts.

Mary had apparently decided that her room was infested with monsters, which struck me as a bit ironic, considering that we were on a cruise ship full of them. Nonetheless, I now had a guest whether I liked it or not. I actually enjoyed having her around, though. I felt like I had an adopted little sister, plus I probably would've gone insane without some kind of company.

I sighed, listening to her shift on the other twin bed and mutter something about her mother. That was definitely one area where the gods had an edge over the Titans; at least they had the decency to explain to the mortal parents what was going on, rather than straight-up kidnapping their demigod children.

Camp Half-Blood wouldn't have a clue where I'd gone, either. Clarisse was the only one who had seen me go…

Aw, _damn_ it.

I remembered suddenly what she had said at the beginning of the Capture the Flag game: that our patrol probably thought I was planning on leaving. I was one of the unclaimed, I'd been acting like a total jerk all week… they were going to think I'd turned traitor.

I groaned, resisting the urge to smack the wall angrily. I was going to _kill_ Luke. The worst part was that I probably wouldn't make it back alive, and a betrayal that never happened would end up being my legacy.

Clarisse was the only one I had any hope about. I told her I wasn't going to leave, didn't I? And she had believed me, I knew. Maybe, just maybe, she'd figure out what had happened.

xxx

The next week was possibly the dullest one in my life. My ingenious little plan regarding our escape didn't exactly work, considering that our food and water magically appeared on the table whenever we weren't looking. Go figure. At least there was a bit of nectar and ambrosia for me, though. It was frustrating to be trapped in the room, but I did feel a _bit_ saner once my ribs started to heal.

I guess Luke had figured the only reason I'd turned down his offer was because my broken ribs had put me in a rotten mood, because the very day that they finally stopped hurting, the door opened and there he was, the delusional man himself.

And I'd love to say that I strangled him instantly, or stared him down, or did something mildly impressive, but, well… no. Actually, when Luke opened the door, flanked by two half-bear giants of course, it took me a good few seconds to even notice him. Why? Because I was sitting on the couch next to Mary, cracking up over something Scooby-Doo had just said on TV.

"Enjoying yourself?" Luke asked, raising an eyebrow as he stepped inside and shut the door behind him.

I scowled, trying to retain some semblance of dignity despite the fact that the Mystery Gang was getting chased around by the Creeper on the screen behind him. Mary leaned around me to glare at Luke. "Go away," she said, her voice the surliest I'd ever heard it.

Luke's eyebrows rose even higher when he saw her. "What the-?" he asked, before glancing at the door connecting our rooms and figuring out what had happened. "Ah. So you two are friends, I see." Mary nodded at him, her eyes still narrowed comically. "So have you given any thought to my previous question? Either of you? I hope you haven't been a bad influence on Mary, Chris. Don't let your pride be her downfall."

Then I realized that I had made yet another big, _big_ mistake. The fact that Mary had still been alive when I'd gotten here meant that Luke or Kronos or whoever the hell was calling the shots here had thought that she'd eventually give up and join them. And they were probably right. She was a sharp kid; she would've figured out that it was the smart thing to do eventually.

But then I showed up. And I knew perfectly well that as long as I refused to join, she would too, and I was sure that Luke would come to the same conclusion. I'd been sort of trying not to think about the fact that I was going to end up dead, but I'd resigned myself to it rather than joining up. But letting Mary get killed too, for my pride? Hell no. Which only left me one option, if I didn't want her thrown to a drakon or something.

"I changed my mind," I said quietly, my head bowed. I felt my fists clench as I said it, and the guilt burned in my throat. Even with the best of reasons for doing it, I was a traitor.

"Ruh-roh," said Scooby.

When I looked up, Luke was staring at me with an expression of mild surprise. His face split into a relieved grin. "You have no idea how glad I am to hear that, Chris. What about you, Mary?"

I looked down at her. She was staring at me, her jaw dropped, eyes full of shock and betrayal. I winced. I'd done it to save her, but I'd betrayed her, too, in the process. "Just join, Mary," I muttered, rubbing my temples. "I don't want you to get killed."

"I-" she started, still gaping at me with wide, stunned eyes. One of the bear-giant-things growled, shifting ominously. I tensed, closing my eyes and resisting the urge to strangle Luke, again. "Fine," she finally said, her voice small.

Luke looked like Christmas had come early. Which was to his credit, I guess, since it meant that he didn't particularly enjoy killing people, but it still pissed me off at the time. "I'll get you your sword back, Chris. But, uh…" He glanced over his shoulder, like he was checking to make sure we wouldn't be overheard. I guess he wasn't worried about the bear twins. One of them appeared to be drooling. "Look, I don't know if you're up to something or what, but seriously, don't try anything. You know I don't want to kill you, but I serve Kronos."

I glared at him. "No worries," I lied through my teeth. "I'm not planning anything." I was, of course. Admittedly it wasn't anything all that creative, but still. It was more of a vague intention to bail at the first possible moment. I decided that if I ever ended up in a fight between Camp Half-Blood forces and Titan forces, I'd just turn on the Titans. Which would have made me a double traitor, I guess, but whatever.

"Cool," Luke said. "Well, follow me, then." He turned, unlocking the door and ushering us out.

I still got the distinct feeling that I wasn't exactly the most trusted member of the army, maybe because the bear twins were walking on either side of me and kept jostling me. "Watch it," I muttered when one of them elbowed me, shouldering him right back.

"Hurr hurr hurr," he laughed.

What the hell was _wrong_ with this place?

Luke led us down to the armory. I did end up getting my sword back, for all the good it did me, seeing as I was outnumbered gods-knew-how-many to two on a ship in the middle of the ocean. I was going to have to play nice, for a while at least.

He handed Mary a small knife, and I gritted my teeth at the sight of a tiny kid holding a weapon. It was ridiculous. What was this, the LRA? Of everything Kronos did, making little kids fight was the worst, in my opinion. Camp Half-Blood, at least, wasn't really supposed to be a fighting force, although I had a feeling that as things heated up it might turn into one. Still, I knew Chiron would at least try to keep the younger kids out of the way. I mean, technically even I wasn't old enough to join the U.S. Army, so I guess the fact that I was fighting in a supernatural war was a bit inappropriate, but I still felt like there was a big difference between getting sixteen-year-olds killed and getting ten-year-olds killed.

"You might want to lose that." Luke's voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Lose what?"

He pointed at my Camp Half-Blood necklace. Oh. Right. Yeah, probably not something I wanted to be advertising while aboard the monster ship. I scowled, yanking it over my head and shoving it into a pocket of my cargo pants. Thankfully I was wearing a black T-shirt instead of a camp shirt.

"So," Luke began, "Let me show you around. But first, you'll have to take the pledge."

**Hah. See? So he's not such a traitor after all, he just didn't want to get a poor lil' girl killed. (sniffs) I have my own reality. Don't burst my bubble. ;) Oh, and just to keep you interested, a sneak peek of the next chapter: In which Chris accidentally slide-tackles an **_**empousa **_**into a swimming pool! Oh, yes, it's gonna be a party. :D Let's see if we can make it to fifty reviews, 'kay? I honestly swear to you that I will do a happy dance if that happens. And we all want Foaly to do a happy dance, right? Right? :D**


	11. Bad Juju

**Here there be long-ass author notes, ye be warned. Read it, though; it's important. Sorta.**

**Firstly, yes, yes I did do a happy dance, never fear.**

**Sorry, I was wrong. The slide-tackling-the-empousa-into-the-pool thing will be chapter twelve. Or possibly thirteen. But it's coming, never fear. ;) And I apologize for being absolutely awful at replying to reviews. I love you all and I really, really appreciate them, I promise. :D**

**Also, erm, your darling Foaly made a bit of a boo-boo. It has been brought to my attention that it's sort of impossible for Chris to have any living relatives, seeing as he went missing for a year and no one mentioned them. So, I'm going to go back and erase any trace of them. Cheerful work. ;) I haven't decided what his new backstory is, but I'll shoehorn it in here somewhere. I do apologize; it seems to be a tradition for me to make at least one completely ridiculous mistake like that in every multichap I attempt. As a peace offering, I give you: NotSuchABadGuyAfterAll!Luke.**

_I am not afraid of Kronos,_ I thought to myself._ I'm not. Uh-uh. Hell no. No way I'm afraid of the disembodied consciousness of the Lord of Time who can rip my mind apart without even trying. Not a bit._

"You look a little pale," Luke commented as we approached the double doors at the end of the hallway.

"Do I?" I said hoarsely, staring dazedly at the floor. Oath? No one told me about any oath. Not to mention an oath that had to be taken _in the presence of the godsdamned Titan._

Luke shoved the doors open, and I was hit by a blast of cold air. I looked up. The suite was pretty nice, with huge windows and fancy furniture. The effect was sort of ruined, though, by the golden sarcophagus in the corner, which was giving off cold air and generally spouting bad juju.

"That's him?" I squeaked, trying to act like I wasn't wishing for a security blanket.

Luke grinned. "Every time a half-blood pledges to our cause, another piece of him is reformed from Tartarus." Oh. Fantastic. So not only was I betraying Camp Half-Blood, I was literally helping Kronos reform. "You're the first two today, although I have another two coming in a few days."

I approached the sarcophagus slowly, gulping. I glanced over my shoulder once. Mary was shooting me a scared, accusing look, and I found that I couldn't meet her eyes.

"Make them swear on the River Styx," one of the bear twins growled. I felt even sicker. If they only made us take a normal oath, we could break it with no consequences other than feeling a little guilty. But if we broke an oath that we'd sworn on the Styx… Honestly, I didn't know what would happen, but I knew it wouldn't be good.

"No need," Luke shrugged casually. "They understand our cause well enough."

Well, that was unexpected. I kept my eyes down, but I was pretty surprised. He knew perfectly well that I fully intended to bail the first chance I got, so the fact that he was helping us was interesting, to say the least.

"So, Chris, just kneel in front of the sarcophagus and repeat after me." It took all of my willpower not to turn and glare at him, but I did it. "I renounce the gods," he began. I could hear the feeling in his voice, like he'd never get tired of saying those words.

"I renounce the gods," I repeated quietly. That particular oath, at least, didn't bother me all that much.

"I will serve Kronos," Luke prompted me.

Ouch. That one bothered me a bit more. I hesitated, taking a deep breath and closing my eyes. I knew, though, that Luke could only help me so much. If I was too obvious about being disloyal, someone would make me swear on the Styx whether Luke liked it or not. I had no choice, not if I didn't want to get both Mary and myself killed. "I will serve Kronos," I whispered, my voice almost cracking. Even though the oath wasn't binding and I had no intention of keeping it, I still got a cold feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"That's all!" Luke said brightly, startling me by clapping me heartily on the back. "Congratulations."

"Thanks," I growled, rising to my feet and backing away as Mary took my place. She shot me another scared look. I gave her a resigned nod, flopping into a ridiculously fancy chair and putting my head in my hands as she took the same oath.

"Come on, Chris," Luke said, clapping me on the shoulder again. "You're on the right side, you know that."

I sighed. I honestly didn't know whether Luke was a friend or enemy at that point. I guess he'd technically saved me from Feather Hat, and he'd left me a fighting chance to get out of this by not making me swear on the Styx, but still, he was a traitor. Then again, I was too, wasn't I? Maybe I didn't know his side of the story. I decided that he probably felt pretty close to the same as I did. The Olympians could go screw, but neither of us wanted to hurt our friends from camp.

"What now?" I asked, brushing off his question.

He grinned. "Kick back. Relax. You're on a cruise, man."

"Kick back and relax?" I repeated skeptically.

"No chores," he shrugged. "No more stable duty, no more kitchen duty. Just get a bit of training in. And…" He cut himself off, glancing over at the sarcophagus, like he was realizing that he shouldn't say whatever he'd been about to. "Never mind. You can have the same rooms as before. I'll have armor sent to you tonight." He ushered us out the door, closing it carefully behind him.

"What were you going to say?" I asked, keeping my voice carefully even.

Luke actually sighed. "Just keep low, Chris. I… I know, okay? I'm sorry this happened. Really."

"No, it's… not your fault, man," I said, surprised. I guess it technically was, sort of, but I genuinely appreciated him putting his neck out to help me. "I'll figure something out. Thanks for, you know, not making me swear an unbreakable oath to the immortal deity who wants to kill all my friends."

"No problem," he grinned. "You'll come out of this okay, you'll see."

I wasn't so sure about that, but I mustered a weak smile as he slipped back into the suite.

"What now?" Mary asked, looking puzzled at our conversation.

I sighed. "I honestly don't know."

We made our way back down to the rooms we'd been in before. I felt like one of those little cartoon storm clouds was raining on my head. What in Hades had I gotten myself into? And all because I couldn't keep my temper, couldn't just suck it up and deal with being unclaimed. And now I'd sworn an oath to the enemy side, too. No matter what I did, I was either a traitor or an oath-breaker, and I had no one to blame but myself. I flipped the TV on idly, feeling even more miserable than the first night I'd been here.

"Hey!" came Mary's muffled voice from the door between our rooms. "Open up!" I stomped over to the door, unlocking it and throwing it open irritably. Mary stood there with her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed, looking more like someone's mother than the adopted little sister I thought of her as. "You've got some explaining to do, Mister," she growled. I sighed. I supposed I did owe her an explanation.

"It's all my fault," I began, stepping aside so that she could come in. "As long as I didn't join, they'd know you wouldn't, either. I wasn't going to, but I wasn't going to let you get killed."

Mary scowled. "Maybe I would've preferred it."

Wow. Quite dramatic for a ten-year-old. "Well, I wasn't going to be the one to make that decision. Sorry," I shrugged helplessly. She continued to glare at me. "Mary, I really am sorry. Honestly, you have no idea. I just betrayed pretty much everyone I know." She still didn't reply, but her eyes widened. "What?" I asked, tensing and glancing over my shoulder. She raised a hand wordlessly, pointing over my head. I looked up.

A glowing caduceus was floating in midair.

Mary's face split into a grin. "I think you're forgiven, Chris."

**So I was just doing some random research on Colombia, and I ran across this little tidbit: Apparently there's a little village called Los Pinos with only one way in or out, aside from a two hour hike, and it's a zipline over a huge ravine. So there are eight kids who ride a zipline to school every day. Which is sad, but I have to admit that it's also incredibly badass. Just thought I'd share. ;)**


	12. If You Like Piña Coladas

**And yes, it will eventually be explained why Hermes took six years to claim him. Silly Hermes. The beginning of this chapter is sort of pointless, I just felt like I had to match up to that scene where Percy, Tyson, and Annabeth dive into the supply closet and overhear Chris walking by. And yes, it's time for the moment we've been waiting for: an **_**empousa**_** takes a dive.**

Apparently cruise ships have barbershops. Who knew? I strolled out the glass doors, trying to act like I wasn't glancing at every reflective surface I passed and resolving never to let a _dracaena _cut my hair again.

I leaned against the rail on deck thirteen, staring out over the ocean. The entire situation seemed surreal. I still couldn't believe that I'd been claimed after so long. I was happy, sort of, but somehow I was still slightly ticked off at Hermes. Why did it take him six years? I knew I was being ungrateful, considering that he'd claimed me despite my joining the Titan army, but I couldn't help it. It didn't make sense.

I mean, it was great timing. It was nice to know that at least someone understood my intentions, even if it wasn't exactly the number one person I would've wished it to be. But who cared? I was claimed. Finally. I was a son of Hermes. I grinned, deciding that if I ever made it back I was going to prank the Stoll brothers to early graves.

I decided that I might as well go train, seeing as I was wearing full armor. It was ridiculously hot, since it was June 9th, but I'd sort of been making a habit of wearing my helmet. There were a few other Camp Half-Blood kids around, most of them old cabin mates of mine, and I didn't particularly want them recognizing me. I supposed that they probably would have welcomed me, but that was what I was afraid of. I went back inside, walking down the hallway toward the elevators.

"Chris?" a curious voice asked behind me. Familiar, too.

Ah, crap.

Against my better judgment, I turned. Andrew stood in the hallway behind me, grinning. "So you decided to join? I didn't figure you would!" he said happily.

I tried to keep my voice friendly as I replied, even though I really, _really_ wanted to strangle the kid. I figured he of all people knew I didn't want to be here, and he was just stupid enough to give me away, too. "Yeah, Luke talked me into it after a while." Well, it was sort of the truth.

"Cool," he said happily. I paused suddenly. I could have sworn that I'd heard something in the hallway ahead of us, but when we turned the corner, there was no one there. "You see that Aethiopian drakon in the cargo hold?" he continued.

"Yeah, it's awesome," I said with a distracted laugh. I hadn't, actually, but whatever. I could have _sworn_ that I heard a voice ahead of us. A familiar one, too, although I couldn't quite place it.

And then, suddenly, I could, because there was a supply closet behind Andrew and I could see a bit of blond hair through the crack. My eyes widened for a moment, before I realized that I couldn't let Andrew turn. "Uh, I hear they got two more coming," I said hurriedly, remembering what Luke had told me. Andrew raised his eyebrows, impressed, and I steered him further down the hall. "They keep coming at this rate, oh, man- no contest!" I rambled, wincing as I realized just how true my words were.

I finally managed to lose him at the elevator. He'd been going down to the training gym like me, but I had to see if I'd been right. I told him I was going up and I'd get my own elevator, and he nodded as the doors closed. I wondered how long it would take him to realize that we were on the highest floor that the elevator actually went to.

I sprinted back down the corridor toward the supply closet. I wasn't going to give Annabeth away, but I sure as Hades wanted to know what she was up to. She must have had a plan to get off the ship, too. I wasn't sure where Mary was at the moment, but I figured that if I explained what had happened, Annabeth would take us along with her if she could.

Of course, my hopes were dashed when I threw open the door and was greeted by a mop and a few buckets. Maybe it had only been my imagination after all. But I _knew_ I'd heard Annabeth's voice a second before we had turned the corner, and there was nothing in the closet even close to the color of her hair.

I wandered idly back onto the deck, spacing out and staring at the ocean again. If she really _was_ here, what was she doing? And more importantly, how did she plan to leave? I'd had my eye on the lifeboats for a while, but they were the kind without an engine, the float-around-for-weeks-until-you-die-of-thirst kind. Or, more accurately, the get-shot-full-of-arrows-in-two-seconds kind. No thank you.

I stared frustratedly at the spray ghosting along the sides of the Princess Andromeda, then at the mist from the swimming pool's fountain. There were plenty of places on the ship that I could have sent an Iris-message from, but none of them were exactly places where I could announce what I needed to say, and I couldn't manage to get a decent rainbow in my room no matter how hard I tried. And I was the son of the God of Communication.

"Now!" Percy's voice cried suddenly.

What the Hades?

I spun, and my jaw dropped as one of the bear twins went flying into the swimming pool ten feet away. Annabeth, Percy and Tyson were right behind me, along with a few mortal security guys, and apparently they were having a bit of a disagreement. Immediately, I was faced with a dilemma. I could help the trio and escape with them, but I'd be leaving Mary behind. And not only that, but it would be painfully obvious that I'd been disloyal to Kronos' army the entire time, and I didn't like to think what might happen to her when someone drew the connection. I couldn't leave.

Percy and Annabeth started beating up the security guards while I pretty much stood there, trying to figure out how to get out of the situation without getting Mary or myself killed. An alarm started blaring, and the deck flooded with demigods and monsters. I was the closest to them. I knew I had to at least look like I was helping, but how?

I ducked as Tyson swung his fist, clocking a hellhound and smashing a drink bar in the process. The only people who didn't seem to notice the chaos were the steel drum band on the edge of the pool. "_If you like piña coladas, and getting caught in the rain…"_ the guy sang blissfully, apparently unaware of the arrows flying past his nose.

A glass of piña colada crashed to the ground right in front of me. Well, speak of the devil. I drew my sword and pretended to charge, deliberately stepping in the drink and skidding across the deck, taking out a few _dracaenae_ in the process. There. No harm done. Except that I was headed straight for the swimming pool. Well, shoot.

As Annabeth and Percy yelled to each other, an _empousa_ darted right in front of me. I couldn't exactly dodge her, and ended up pretty much slide-tackling her, sending both of us tumbling into the pool. She shrieked as her flaming hair was extinguished with a _hiss. _

Meanwhile, it had just occurred to me that swimming pools and armor didn't mix particularly well. I held my breath as I sank straight to the bottom, wrestling frantically with straps and buckles. Finally, just when I was beginning to think that I might have a serious problem on my hands, I managed to shed enough weight to kick back up to the surface.

I shook wet hair out of my eyes, treading water in the middle of the pool while utter chaos raged around me. Laistrygonians were firing arrows from the service deck, tourists were screaming, and a hellhound had made off with the drink stand, but I realized happily that Annabeth and the rest had escaped. I still didn't know what they'd been doing here in the first place, though.

"_At a bar called O'Malley's, where we'll plan our_- AGH!"

I snorted as Jimmy Buffet Guy finally seemed to notice the hellhound behind him. But I wiped the smirk off my face when I realized that the _empousa_ was glaring at me from the edge of the pool, looking at me like she was trying to decide what would be the most painful way to kill me. I was pretty sure she was some kind of officer. Oops. When she saw me looking at her, she replaced the glare with a seductive smile, or at least as seductive as you can be when you're bald. I didn't know all that much about the she-demons, but I was pretty sure, no matter how nice-looking she was when her head wasn't either bald or on fire, that was a bad sign. I sort of doubted that she appreciated my extinguishing her hair, accident or not.

I spent a few minutes diving after my armor, then finally hauled myself out of the pool as the deck began to clear. I sort of wondered what the mortals on board had thought of all this. Pirates, maybe.

**Heh. Poor Kelli. That would be rather unfortunate, wouldn't it? I couldn't resist making Chris be piña colada guy. And if anybody's got some ideas for a replacement back-story for Chris or Mary, let me know. Or just review anyway. :)**


	13. You Put Out My Hair

**Yeah, no more daily updates, sorry. That was just because I was pretty much trapped after getting my teeth out, but now I have a life again. Not to mention that I'm back in school Monday and I actually have to start studying. Boo. :(**

**Okay, just for the record, the whole why-the-heck-would-the-ship-be-deserted-at-night thing is Riordan's plot hole, not mine. Actually, there's a pretty remarkable number of his that I'm going to have to work through. Like, if Chris was supposedly too crazy to eat the food Clarisse was trying to give him, then even assuming that he had an apparently endless supply of food while he was in the Labyrinth, how was he sane enough to actually eat it? He should have starved to death. But that, of course, wouldn't have been **_**nearly**_** as entertaining…**

**Oh, and, uh… innuendo alert. Mild, but really, really awkward, uncomfortable innuendo, because that's apparently what **_**empousae **_**are for. Or would it be **_**empousas? Empousai?**_** Whatever.**

I glanced up and down the hallway carefully, my fist tight around a single golden drachma. I had no idea whether I was doing the right thing or not. I felt terrible for endangering Mary, but I had to do _some_thing.

The further I crept down the corridor, the edges glowing with strips of dim orange emergency lighting, the stupider my idea seemed. I didn't know if there would _be_ a rainbow in the fountain's mist at night, or even whether the fountain would be running. And it wasn't like Camp Half-Blood could exactly get me out of this. No, the only thing I was achieving here was feeling better about myself.

I ran up the stairs two at a time as quietly as I could. Why was the ship so empty at night? I guess the zombie tourists and crew were charmed to stay in their rooms at after dark, but I kept expecting to run into a monster or another demigod every time I turned a corner. I didn't end up getting caught, though. I didn't even see anyone.

I prowled onto the pool deck, still glancing over my shoulder. This was ridiculous. What was I _doing?_ I was going to get us both killed. But I couldn't give up, not when I was this close.

I would never have believed that the pool deck of a cruise ship could be creepy, but this one was pulling it off pretty damn well. The engine's hum and the noise of the water rushing impossibly quickly past the ship muffled the sound of my footsteps, but made me paranoid that I wouldn't hear it if something was behind me. The fountain was running, dusting the top of the bigger waves with tiny droplets. The entire pool seemed to be lit from underwater somehow, glowing an eerie yellow-green and throwing patterns of light and long, spectral shadows across the deck.

When I reached the base of the fountain, I crouched in front of it, looking over my shoulder one more time. I narrowed my eyes and leaned from side to side, searching for a rainbow and trying not to think about how painfully visible I was. I hoped to the gods that the Iris-message would only open a window right in front of me, and not fill the entire fountain.

I almost had to press my cheek to the pool deck, but I finally caught sight of a weak, sickly rainbow. It would have to do. I flipped the drachma in my hand thoughtfully, realizing that I hadn't actually considered who to message. Chiron, I knew, would be the smart choice. If anyone could help me, or at least tell me what to do, it would be him. But since when had I made smart choices?

"Accept my offering," I whispered, tossing the coin through the mist and sitting up as soon as it passed through. "Show me Clarisse La Rue, Camp Half-Blood."

Thankfully, the window that opened was only about a foot square, inches in front of my face. For a moment, it showed a wide, panoramic view of camp. I bit my lip. I couldn't have been gone for more than a few weeks, but I missed it already. Then the screen jumped, like it was confused, before fading to black. I was just about to give up and swipe my hand through it when it sharpened again, and suddenly Clarisse's red-brown eyes were staring at me in confusion. I blinked, trying to remember what, exactly, I'd been planning on saying.

She beat me to it. "_You!_" she shouted.

I flinched. "Don't yell! Do you want to get me killed?" I hissed.

"Yes!" she replied furiously, but at least she was whispering now, which sort of undermined her statement. "You- What in _Hades_ were you thinking, joining them?"

"I didn't!" I protested. "I mean, I did, but not for the reason you think!" In retrospect, I supposed that I should have seen this coming a mile away.

"I don't care why!" She looked like she was trying to figure out how to punch me through an Iris-message. I hoped she didn't get angry enough to actually try, because she'd only end the connection, and I only had a few drachmas. "You said you weren't going to leave, Chris."

Oh. I blinked, suddenly feeling even guiltier as I remembered what I'd promised her. "Oh, man, Clarisse, I'm really sorry. I didn't- I mean, I was going to come _back._ I never meant to _leave_ leave…" I was distracted suddenly as I finally noticed the metal, rivet-covered wall behind her. "Where in Hades are you?" I asked, realizing that that must have been the reason that the Iris-message had gotten confused. Wherever she was, it wasn't Camp Half-Blood. Which meant that she'd gotten a quest. I wondered who she'd chosen to take with her, and whether it would have been me if all of this hadn't happened.

"Off the coast of Virginia," she snapped. "I'm on a quest to save Thalia's tree."

"Well, I can't think of anyone better for the job," I attempted.

"Don't even try, jackass." Ah well. It was worth a shot. Suddenly, her eyes widened. She flicked them to the left meaningfully, telling me to turn.

I shot to my feet, whirling and drawing my sword in the same movement. I yelped and almost fell backwards into the pool when I found myself staring into an _empousa_'s red eyes.

And that, I think, was the precise moment that I knew I was completely screwed.

"Chris," she purred silkily. I gulped, recognizing her as the one I'd knocked into the pool. "Now, who was she?"

I glanced over my shoulder, noticing thankfully that Clarisse had been smart enough to end the connection. "Um," I said, hoping that she'd leave Mary out of this.

"That's what I thought."

I bit my lip, replaying my conversation with Clarisse in my head. I hadn't come even close to saying everything I'd wanted to, but maybe that was a good thing. I hadn't outright said that I was disloyal, had I?

The _empousa_ stepped forward even more. She was uncomfortably close to me, but if I tried to back away I'd end up in the pool. If her hair had been in fire mode, I probably would have been suffering second-degree burns right now.

"Now, why would you have been Iris-messaging her?" she whispered. "What could you possibly have to tell her? She wouldn't happen to be an old friend from camp, would she?" Her sultry smile widened at my startled expression. "Yes, Chris, I know you're from Camp Half-Blood. I'm Luke's number-one lieutenant; did you know that? Mm-hmm, he tells me everything."

Now she was showing teeth. I knew that she was messing with me, but I didn't know what she wanted. Was she going to call me out on my disloyalty, or just kill me on the spot? I knew my life had been pretty much balancing on the edge of a knife for the last couple of weeks. I just hoped that they didn't kill Mary. Because if they did, it would be entirely my fault, all because I just _had _to try to save my reputation.

The _empousa_ managed to effectively catch my attention by slipping her hand into my pocket.

"The Hades?" I protested indignantly, jumping and finally shoving her away, taking the opportunity to shift so that my back wasn't to the pool anymore. I figured that the usual rules about not hitting girls didn't apply when the girl was a monster. "… Oh," I said as I noticed my camp necklace in her hand.

She smirked triumphantly, twirling it delicately around her finger. "You shouldn't hold onto the past, Christopher dear. You'll only get hurt."

I wasn't sure whether she meant it literally or metaphorically, but I had a pretty good idea of which. "What do you want?" I muttered, not meeting her glowing eyes.

"Aw," she said sweetly, invading my personal bubble again as I backed away steadily. "I think you know." She ran her nail along my jaw, and I flinched away, painfully aware of how quickly that nail could transform into a talon.

"I really don't," I replied warily, feeling more uncomfortable than scared, which was sort of ridiculous.

Her smile only widened. "Well, of course, what I _really_ want is to kill you and drink your blood," she purred, impossibly sharp teeth glinting in the light of the pool. I flinched again, tightening my grip on my sword. "… But unfortunately, I'm under strict orders not to kill any of our soldiers." Oh joy.

"So… what, then?"

"So I still want you dead." Her smile widened to impossible proportions. "I just can't kill you, and Luke refuses to have you killed. Even though you _put out my hair!_" she snarled suddenly. She lunged at me, and I stumbled backward with a yelp, raising my sword. The _empousa_ froze, the tip of the blade an inch from her throat. The nails that had been touching my face a moment ago grew into black talons, and she had her arm raised like she meant business.

"I thought you weren't allowed to kill me," I managed to say after a moment of almost having a heart attack.

"I'm not," she grumbled sulkily, her talons retracting back into her hands. "There's no rule against drawing blood, though." She licked her lips. I blinked nervously. "See, Luke has this idea," she began, rolling her eyes scornfully, "That there's an easy way into Camp Half-Blood. Past the borders."

I decided it was safer to keep my mouth shut. Luke refused to have me killed? How… nice. But that meant that this _empousa_ had been actively lobbying for my death. Great. Plus there was still the whole trying-to-destroy-camp thing. Luke, I supposed, was my personal ally, but an enemy of the side I still liked to think of myself as fighting for. Huh.

"The Labyrinth," the _empousa_ announced grandly.

I raised an eyebrow. "I though the whole point of the Labyrinth was to kill anyone who entered it."

"It is," she shrugged. "We've sent in explorers. They all either died, or…" She didn't finish the sentence. She didn't need to. I was already pretty sure where this was going. "But I'm sure a strong hero like you could find Ariadne's String," she continued, her voice turning silky again.

"Look, you've already told me you want to kill me! Stop doing that!" I complained.

"Doing what?" she asked, her voice exaggeratedly innocent and curious.

"… Forget it. So you want me to explore the Labyrinth, because you think I'll die in the process."

"I guess if you _have_ to phrase it like _that_…"

Actually, that didn't sound like such a bad deal to me. I knew that the Labyrinth was ridiculously dangerous, but of course, in my eternal idiocy, I couldn't help thinking that maybe I could escape. And if I _did_ escape, I could return to camp. I realized that I'd be leaving Mary behind, but at least this way I wasn't getting her killed. This way, I'd actually have a decent shot of coming back and getting her out somehow.

"Okay," I shrugged.

The _empousa_ looked vaguely miffed at my reaction. "You don't know all that much about the Labyrinth, do you?" she asked.

"Not really, no."

"Ah. Well, I'm sure you'll find it a very educational experience." She gave me one last sharp-toothed smile before turning and walking away, leaving me standing on the pool deck wondering what the Hades had just happened.

**Poor Chris. That's why you don't mess with an **_**empousa**_**'s hair.**


	14. Your Empousa Wants to Kill Me

**In Which There Is A Ridiculous Amount Of Angst. This is more of a rant than a chapter, because frankly I would've pulled an Andrew if I'd been in the series.**

No one else saw me as I returned to the room. Not that it would've mattered if they had, I guess. I was already pretty much screwed.

I closed the door carefully, chucked my sword on the floor despite being fully aware that I would trip on it the next morning, and flopped onto my bed fully dressed. Across the room, Mary mumbled something but didn't wake up. God of Thieves thing, I assumed. Great.

The initial euphoria at being claimed was wearing off pretty quickly, and I found myself growing just as resentful as before, if not more. I couldn't shake the feeling that it had more to do with Luke than it did with me. Which didn't make sense, I supposed. I was five years younger than Luke, and one of Luke's favorite topics to rant about to me used to be that he didn't think Hermes truly loved his mother. My existence sort of backed up his point.

I wondered how Luke would feel about me being his half-brother. I sort of thought he probably liked me better unclaimed. I had been one of the only people he really talked to before he left, since I was the only person who was even close to being as bitter as he was. Frankly, I hadn't been surprised to find out that he'd joined the Titans. I think he was probably surprised that it took _me_ so long to show up, and that when I did it was under duress.

Maybe Hermes didn't know my motivations. Maybe he was only acting for his own interests, thinking that if he claimed me I would return to Camp Half-Blood. _I'd love to, father dearest, _I thought spitefully. _If you, the damned God of Travelers, would only _help_ me for once!_

Of course, the fact that I didn't get blasted to ash on the spot sort of undermined my point about him not liking me. Unless of course he was paying so little attention that he didn't sense me dissing him. And knowing how the gods operated, that equaled exactly zero. Fan-freaking-tastic. I was willing to bet that I was the only claimed demigod whose parent didn't even notice when they started cussing them out.

I mean, I'd been psyched when I first got to camp. A few other kids, little kids like me, got there at pretty much the same time. One of them was Clarisse. The others were Luke and Annabeth. Thalia, of course, hadn't made it.

Annabeth had been claimed on her first night at camp. No one was surprised, really. Her grey eyes and intelligence made it pretty easy to guess who her godly parent was, and Athena never forgot her children. Meanwhile, Luke, Clarisse and I were still in the Hermes cabin. Luke had already known that Hermes was his dad, and he was claimed the first night, too. Ares took his time claiming Clarisse, but after she defeated a hellhound in a training exercise, she was gone and I was left with Luke. I was sure that I'd be claimed any day.

My eleventh birthday came and went. Nothing. I waited, and waited, and waited, for my entire first year at camp. Summer came around again, and with it a surge in new demigods. Katie. James. Michael. All in and out of the Hermes cabin within months. And as they stared in wonder at the glittering symbols above their heads, I would glare and clench my fists and hate them for it. All of them. And Luke would pat me on the shoulder and shake his head.

The children of minor gods, too. They were the ones I didn't understand. There was one boy who left camp a month or so before I did. Dylan. Either he was a child of Nyx or Hades had broken his oath, and we all knew it. But he was never claimed, and there was no Nyx cabin anyway. Same with a girl I was absolutely sure was a daughter of Morpheus, and another girl who had to be Hecate.

But I couldn't even begin to guess who my godly parent was, which probably should have tipped me off right there. I didn't have the typical look of any of them, but I figured my mom's genes probably explained that. I wasn't awful at anything, but I wasn't the best either. Jack of all trades. Yeah, I got it finally.

I wasn't all that clear on how the rules about gods talking to their children worked. I figured Hermes couldn't exactly teleport onto the ship, seeing as the presence of a god would probably set of an alarm or three, but I really did think I deserved an explanation after _six godsdamned years._

I wondered how Luke would react. I was the next youngest Hermes child to him. Travis wasn't much younger than me, but still, I pretty much marked the moment that Hermes gave up on Luke's mom. I didn't really figure that that information would encourage Luke in his apparent mission to not get me executed. It was probably better not to let anyone other than Mary find out about that, and I realized that I should probably tell her in the morning to keep my being claimed to herself.

I checked my watch and groaned. Three in the morning. Tomorrow would be a load of fun, no doubt. It would be interesting to see what getting three hours of sleep would do for my already-sunny disposition.

As it turned out, three hours of sleep would have been fantastic compared to what I ended up getting. About two seconds after I closed my eyes, I was having a nightmare. And not a big, important fate-of-civilization demigod nightmare. I never got those. Of course. No, it was just a regular old wake-up-sweaty-and-tangled-in-sheets-and-almost-fall-off-the-bed-and-break-your-neck kind.

I was never really sure what happened in the dream, no matter how many times I had it. Probably because I didn't know what _had_ happened. Just the roar and the scream and the teeth. And the face, of course. There was always the face, duller and less detailed every time I saw it. I was forgetting, slowly but surely. Then the horns and the fur, the first satyr I saw. Then leaving. Leaving and never coming back.

I had to make it back. No matter how much I hated Olympus and the Titans and the monsters and every other bit of this world, I couldn't ignore that my friends were still my friends. Maybe I _was_ a traitor, but I couldn't stand them not knowing why I had done what I'd done. Somehow, I would make it back to Camp Half-Blood.

xxx

"Chris."

"Mmph," I groaned eloquently into my pillow. Too early. Way, _way_ too early.

"Chri-is," Mary sang, smacking me on the back with a violence that didn't quite match the singsong tone of her voice.

"Go 'way."

"Luke's here."

"What the Hades?" I exclaimed, flipping over and sitting up.

Sure enough, Luke was standing in the doorway looking mildly bemused. "Good morning," he said.

I blinked. "Your _empousa_ wants to kill me," I replied. Not the politest of greetings, but then again I doubted the sun was up yet.

"I heard," he replied, raising an eyebrow. "I also heard that you apparently agreed to explore the Labyrinth."

"Oh. Yeah," I muttered, trying to make my sleep-deprived, ADHD brain focus for long enough to remind me what the Hades had happened. As soon as I remembered, my hand flew to my pocket. "She stole my necklace!" I cried indignantly.

Luke smacked himself in the face. "Forget the necklace, Chris. What were you thinking? Do you have any idea how much effort I've been putting in not to get you killed?"

"Um, not really, no."

"A _lot_," he griped. "Most of it because you seem to be doing your level best to do the exact opposite."

"It was an accident!" I protested. "Knocking her into the pool was, anyway. Not so much the-"

"_I still work for Kronos!_" he cut me off. "For the love of the gods, would you _please_ stop trying to get everyone to kill you?"

"For the love of the gods?" I repeated skeptically. "I wish. And I don't do it on _purpose,_" I added resentfully after a moment. "It just happens."

Luke sighed, rubbing his temples again. "Clearly. I swear I wouldn't be surprised to find out you were one of my half-brothers."

I blinked, not entirely sure how to field that one. Luke's eyes flitted between Mary and I. Both of us probably looked sort of guilty. "Whoa, wait. You can't mean you…?" he began, his expression turning into one of disbelief.

I knew it was a bad idea, but if he really had been the only reason I wasn't dead yet, I figured I owed him the truth. I nodded silently, feeling guilty for existing.

"He…? Four years. He only waited _four years,_" Luke muttered distractedly to himself.

"Look, I don't like it any more than you do," I said quietly.

Luke's face twisted, and he turned and kicked the door frame hard enough to make me wince. Mary shot me a scared look, and I shook my head, hoping she'd take the hint to keep her mouth shut.

After a moment, Luke took a deep breath, running a hand through his hair. "No, it's… Not surprising. At _all_. I should have known. Not your fault." He thought about something for a moment. "I wonder how many of the demigods on this ship are his kids?"

I wasn't really sure whether it was a rhetorical question or not, so I decided to keep my mouth shut. In truth, I didn't think there were any more Hermes kids than there were of any other group, at least relative to the cabin sizes at camp. I guess the gods who had more kids could sort of be blamed for doing so, but I didn't really think Luke's accusation was entirely fair. Not that I was defending Hermes.

"Well, Chris, I might as well ask you what I came here to ask you," Luke said, his voice falsely calm. "Do you want to go into the Labyrinth, or would you rather I just let her kill you? Personally, I'd advise the second option."

"Wait, _what?_" Mary protested while I stared blankly at Luke.

"It's… that bad, huh?" I asked, suddenly not so sure about my decision.

"It's worse."

"Oh." I bit my lip thoughtfully, resisting the urge to swear. I did least make an effort not to use particularly colorful language in front of Mary, although I didn't always succeed. Admittedly the fact that she'd started cursing so eloquently after stubbing her toe that even I was impressed made my mission seem a bit pointless, but it still felt like the right thing to do. Honestly, it probably would have made more sense for me to go out of my way to curse as much as humanly possible, since I was pretty much the antithesis of a role model as far as I could see.

I didn't really know why I was even pretending to think about Luke's question. I knew, in theory at least, that the Labyrinth was pretty much hell, but I couldn't exactly bring myself to say, "Yeah, good point. Probably better for you to just run me through right now." And anyway, it wasn't like I wouldn't have that particular opt-out option once I was in the Labyrinth. If it was really that bad, I could probably figure something out…

_Whoa. Chris. Dude. Let's not jump off a bridge quite yet, huh? _I thought, slightly alarmed at the morbid train of thought my ADHD brain had decided to take. _Heroes have survived the Labyrinth before. Not many, but it's happened. _

_Honestly, what could be down there?_

"Labyrinth over execution, thanks," I replied, trying to sound at least somewhat confident.

Luke actually winced. "Look, don't say I didn't warn you," he muttered, sounding more like he was talking to himself than me. "I don't want this on my head. Now that we're half-brothers and all," he added with a wry grimace.

I felt like I should apologize for existing again, but Mary cut me off. "Would you _please_ tell me what's going on?" she asked.

"He'll tell you," Luke growled, glaring at me. "It's his own godsdamned fault."

Huh. That was quite a mood change. I figured that he genuinely didn't want me sent into the Labyrinth or killed, but there was definitely something else going on here. He had the same look in his eye as he had just before he'd left camp, like if you said the wrong thing he'd explode into a million tiny shards of glass, probably killing you in the process. He flung the door open, striding out into the hallway.

"When?" I called at his back.

He answered me without turning, like he couldn't stand to see my face anymore. Probably because both of us knew I'd be dead soon. "Next time we dock," he replied. "A few days. I don't know. Train all you can. Research. Whatever." And then he was gone.

Mary turned to me, blinking fast. She looked confused, but I was pretty sure she'd caught the general gist of that discussion. "Chris, what's the Labyrinth?" she asked quietly.

"I thought you read a book on mythology," I commented, trying to distract myself from the fact that I was a dead man walking.

"I didn't get that far." She sounded hurt, and I realized that my answer had come out more harshly than I'd intended. "Before I got… brought here."

"Shoot, sorry, sorry," I muttered, running my hands through my hair and feeling horrible as usual. "It's… have you ever heard of Daedalus?"

**Yup, another absolutely-nothing-happens chapter. I just couldn't help wondering how Luke would feel about him going into the maze. Poor Luke. I'm finding myself growing more and more sympathetic toward the traitors in general. :/**


	15. Chased by a Girl in a Cocktail Dress

**Sorry. Real life and all.**

Mary flat-out refused to leave my side for the next few days. When I had explained what the Labyrinth was, I had tried not to make it out as being all that dangerous, but I was pretty sure she'd seen right through me. She knew I'd essentially been condemned to death, or worse.

So, naturally, she wanted to come with me.

"They'd let me," she pointed out, thin hair flying as she dodged my halfhearted strike. We were sparring in the training gym, if the word "sparring" even applied, seeing as I was a sixteen-year-old boy with a three-foot-long sword and six years of training, fighting an inexperienced ten-year-old with a knife.

"I don't care," I growled, blocking her slash easily. Ordinarily I would have purposely let her get at least a few good strikes in, but I was sort of out of patience with the world in general.

She pouted and kicked me in the shin.

"_What the Hades?_" I protested, jumping backward and sending her knife flying out of her hand.

Mary glared at me. "That's allowed," she pouted. "We're sparring. And if you're so sure the Labyrinth isn't dangerous, then why can't I come?"

I sighed angrily as she chased after her knife, already feeling guilty for losing my temper with her. It wasn't her fault, I knew that, but… Honestly, I was already dreading going into the maze; did she really have to make it this much harder for me?

"Fine," I said flatly, rubbing my temple defeatedly. "The Labyrinth is dangerous, okay? Almost everyone who goes into it doesn't come out. Which _means,_" I continued, cutting her off as she opened her mouth, "That you're _not_ coming with me."

"It means I _should _come with you!" she cried angrily, raising her knife and attacking me like she meant it. "I can help!"

I gritted my teeth and swung my sword again, smacking her knife out of her hand so hard that it landed, quivering, in the wall. She stared at her empty hand, then moved her gaze sadly to my face. I couldn't meet her eyes. "You can't help me," I muttered.

Of course, Mary immediately switched to a different tactic. "I don't want to be here by myself," she said, her eyes tearing up.

"Oh, for the love of the gods," I groaned, smacking my palm to my forehead. "Please tell me you're doing that on purpose."

"Maybe," she muttered. "I _don't_, though. I want to see your camp." She stared at me with pleading eyes.

My hand went to my pocket subconsciously, and I sighed when I remembered that my camp necklace wasn't there anymore. "I want you to see it too, Mary, I really do, but that's not going to happen if you go into the Labyrinth."

"It's not going to happen if you leave me here, either."

I hated to admit it, but I knew she was right. Even if, by some miracle, I did survive, finding her again would be easier said than done. No, the reason that I didn't want her coming with me was far less noble than that: I didn't want her death on my head. I knew I probably wasn't good enough to protect myself, let alone a ten-year-old girl. If she came with me, then it would be the end of her too when I died, and it would be all my fault, and I couldn't handle that.

"I said no."

She didn't ask again. She just attacked me even harder, like she'd be doing me a favor if she just killed me now. Probably true, actually.

"We're docking," she observed after a few minutes, glancing out the window over my shoulder. I felt the blood drain from my face as I stared at the Miami skyline. I had run out of time.

xxx

I wasn't really sure what the mortals must have thought as our little party, consisting of myself, Kelli the _empousa_, a few other demigods, and, for some reason, Mary, jogged through the streets. We probably looked like a pack of teenaged Marines getting chased by a girl in a cocktail dress, since the Mist had a nasty habit of disguising weapons as other weapons. Needless to say, we got some pretty weird looks.

I briefly considered making a run for it, but then realized that the reason Mary had been brought along was probably to prevent me from doing just that. I might have been able to outrun the other demigods, but I sort of doubted that she could. It occurred to me that Kelli would quite possibly kill Mary just to spite me. But what could I do about it? I'd probably be dead in a few minutes. Luke, I supposed, would stop the _empousa_. Or at least I hoped so.

_Look, I know you're not going to help me, but please don't let her get killed, _I silently begged the gods. _She's your daughter, Apollo. Don't let her die for you guys like this. Hermes, I know I screwed up, but please just do me one favor. You know I only turned traitor to save her. Even though I wouldn't have been there in the first place if you'd- um- forget that last part. Just don't let the demon rip her head off, okay?_

I blinked as I realized that that was the first time I'd actually prayed to any gods, aside from the obligatory prayer to Iris to send messages. Clearly, I wasn't very good at it.

Kelli herded us into an old-looking, abandoned building, grinning widely as she strolled to the back wall. The other few demigods followed. I felt sick as she brushed away the dust from the chipped white cinderblock, revealing a Greek symbol. Delta.

"It requires the touch of a halfblood," she chirped, turning to me. "Why don't you do the honors, Chris?"

I was way too scared to be angry, but I still picked up on how cruel she was being. This was like making me dig my own grave. I swallowed hard, raising my hand slowly as I stared at the softly glowing blue symbol. I honestly couldn't believe that this was happening. This couldn't be real.

I forced myself to stop thinking and do it before Kelli lost her patience. I brushed my fingers across the Delta, pulling them back like I'd been burned as the cinderblocks began to shift. A few seconds later, I was staring into the mouth of a stone tunnel, steps leading into darkness.

I blinked, realizing that I'd never actually been underground before, at least not that I could remember. My stomach dropped just looking at the narrow stairway, and I got the nasty feeling that I was just not a person who did well underground. But of course, there was nothing I could do about it.

"Oh, and I was thinking…" came Kelli's silky voice from behind me. I bit my lip, not turning, knowing that whatever was coming was going to be bad news. "Maybe you should have a companion. We've only sent in solo explorers so far, but maybe two demigods would have a better chance of finding Ariadne's string."

Oh, no. No no no no no.

I forced myself to turn slowly, struggling to keep my voice calm. "I'm fine alone," I managed to say.

"No, really," Kelli smiled, the look in her eye telling me in no uncertain terms how much she wanted to hurt me in any way possible. "How about you?" she asked sweetly, directing the question at Mary.

"_No!_" I protested, feeling my pulse speed up. "Are you insane? She's ten!"

"I'll go!" Mary declared, grinning triumphantly.

I felt like I was going to pass out. How had I not seen this coming? I glared at the _empousa_ as she smirked, a cold glint in her eye, and realized that I was going to have to swallow my pride. "Please, Kelli," I breathed so that the other demigods couldn't hear me. "I'm sorry I put out your hair, okay?"

"Aw," she purred, stepping uncomfortably close to me for the third time and running a hand down my arm. I tensed, resisting the urge to either shiver or send her flying across the room. Over her shoulder, Mary's expression turned comically disgusted. "Sorry, sweetheart. It's a little late for that now," Kelli murmured in my ear. She put her hands around my neck, and I realized that she had put my camp necklace on me. Twirling it delicately around the hand at the back of my neck, she pulled the twine tight against my throat.

I gulped, finding myself unable to break contact with her red eyes. "'Bye now. Remember to come back if you find Ariadne's string," she winked.

Before I could react, she let go of the necklace and gave me a hard shove in the direction of the tunnel. I stumbled back with a yelp, finding to my dismay that there was nothing underneath my foot. My head smacked into the wall, but I managed to catch myself on one of my hands before I tumbled all the way down. I found myself staring wide-eyed into inscrutable darkness, my heart pounding impossibly quickly.

"And you, dear?" I heard Kelli say at the top, followed by the sound of Mary's feet coming toward me. As I sat up dazedly, the _empousa_ addressed another one of the halfbloods, and suddenly the entrance was shut.

I cursed. Vehemently, several times, hoping against hope that there wouldn't be a reply.

"Sorry."

Dammit.

I couldn't see her in the darkness, but I could tell from her voice that she was happy, no matter how hard she was trying to sound contrite. I sat on one of the steps, putting my head in my hands. I honestly felt like crying. This couldn't be happening. She was going to get killed, and it would be entirely my fault. I had made her disloyal to the Titans, I had pissed Kelli off, I had gotten caught talking to Clarisse…

Oh gods. Clarisse. I pictured her face, wondering what she thought of me right now. I hadn't gotten to explain what had happened in the Iris-message, but she was smart. She would know what I meant, wouldn't she?

Maybe I shouldn't have messaged her. I was going to die, wasn't I? If she thought I was a traitor, she wouldn't care, but what if… what if she actually _did_ care about me, and now I'd gone and gotten myself killed? At least if I'd gone down a traitor, my friends wouldn't have had to mourn my death.

"You're gonna kill me, aren't you?" Mary asked quietly. I could still hear the grin in her voice.

"_I_ won't," I growled. "But I'm not the most dangerous thing in here."

"How do you know that? You killed a giant, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but…"

"Ah, come on," she said cheerily, smacking me on the back of the head. I figured she'd probably been going for my shoulder, but the tunnel was in total darkness. "Um, sorry."

"No problem," I sighed, figuring that if I'd signed her death warrant I owed it to her not to be mean.

"Anyway, it's not that bad," she continued. "We can just wait a while and then go out the entrance we came in through."

I blinked, suddenly feeling very stupid for not thinking of that myself. "Oh yeah. Let's go to the top and try to find the Delta." I ascended the stairs blindly, hearing Mary stumbling along behind me, both of us cursing every time we almost tripped. I'd sort of given up on my no-cussing-in-front-of-Mary policy, seeing as I was pretty sure she was a worse influence on me than I was on her in the linguistics department. I made a mental note to ask her at some point how she'd picked up such a colorful repertoire of swears.

It occurred to me after a few more seconds that something was wrong. When I'd fallen, my feet had only landed a few steps down from the top, and I'd sat down just a few steps further than that. I should have gotten to the door already. Even if I'd missed the Delta, I ought to have walked face-first into the wall by now. But I hadn't. The steps continued upwards, defying logic.

The exit had moved. The Labyrinth had started messing with us already, and we were trapped.

"Oh, screw you," I muttered angrily at the maze in general, kicking the wall.

"It's gone, isn't it?" Mary asked.

"That would appear to be the case, yes." I squinted up the stairway, trying to see something, anything, but the darkness was impenetrable. A few moments of silence passed.

"Um… Chris?" Mary's voice was a little higher than it had been before. Her hand touched my arm a few times, then closed around my wrist, like she'd been fumbling for me in the dark.

I felt my stomach flip. Even before I turned, I had a pretty good feeling that I wasn't going to like whatever was behind us. I was absolutely right.

**Ah, my favorite cliché. Number one rule for characters of mine: Always, **_**always**_** look behind you. Mwahahahahah. Oh, and don't you just love Kelli? XD So much awkwardness.**

**Review-whoring time! Please, please review? I'm a sad soul who's overly validated by other people's approval, and I really do adore getting reviews, good or bad.**

… **That is all.**


	16. Glowing Red Eyes Are Never Good News

Glowing red eyes are never, ever good news.

I drew my sword as silently as I could, feeling equal parts terrified and indignant. The terror, of course, was due to the general trapped-underground-with-things-that-want-to-kill-me-painfully issue. The indignation was more in response to the fact that we'd been in the Labyrinth for maybe a minute and a half and it was already trying to kill us. That was hardly fair.

I grabbed Mary's arm, yanking her roughly behind me and rolling my eyes in anticipation of her objection.

"Hey!"

Surprise.

"I can't _see_ you," I explained patiently, not looking away from the glimmering red eyes in the tunnel ahead of me. "If you stand in front of me I'm going to kill you by accident. Watch my back, okay?" I had only added the last part to make her feel better, but I realized uncomfortably that it was actually a valid assignment. Mary muttered resentfully to herself, but she was out of my way while she was doing it, so I didn't particularly care.

The eyes hadn't moved at all, which was actually scaring me a hell of a lot more than if they'd just attacked me, whatever they were. "Up the steps," I hissed. I heard Mary's footsteps behind me, and started backing up, still watching whatever was watching us. I gulped when I noticed that they were following us, maintaining exactly the same distance between them and me. I guessed that the eyes came to about the level of my chest, but it was difficult to tell since they were a few steps down.

"There's a landing in a few steps, with a tunnel off to the right," Mary said quietly. "It looks like there's light."

"Light sounds fantastic," I replied, trying to speed up without tripping and falling on my rear. The things weren't acting particularly aggressive, not yet at least, but I had a nasty feeling that I'd be dead pretty quickly if I tripped. By some miracle I managed to stay on my feet, and we made it to the top without being attacked.

I risked a quick glance to my left, and saw that Mary had walked a few feet into a round, well-lit room. She glanced from side to side, and didn't appear particularly terrified of anything, so I decided that the room was a better bet than the tunnel. Admittedly the tunnel had been narrow enough that the whatsits could only come at me two or so at a time, but I was willing to trade that advantage for the light, figuring that they were probably better at fighting blind than I was.

I backed into the stone room. There was another tunnel leading out of it to my right, but thankfully Mary had caught on and was keeping her eye on it. I watched the one we'd come out of, but didn't see anything. Of course, that wasn't saying much, seeing as it led off in a ninety-degree angle, so the things could've been waiting two feet away. After a few minutes of silence, though, I finally relaxed.

"That went well," I commented, turning to check out the other tunnel. Mary nodded coolly, putting her knife back in her belt. I bit back a smile. The kid had gone totally double-oh-seven.

She glanced up, opening her mouth like she was about to say something. Suddenly, she glanced over my shoulder, and her eyes widened.

Dammit. Not again.

I whirled, then jumped back with a startled yell. Not fast enough. The creature bulled straight into me, knocking me to the ground. It was vaguely humanoid, with blue-black skin and way more teeth than anything had the right to possess, and was doing its level best to tear my throat out with them. It wasn't any bigger than I was, but the element of surprise had given the monster all the advantage it needed. The fact that I was utterly terrified may have had something to do with it, too.

My sword arm was pinned, but I decked the monster as hard as I could with my free one. Before I could swing at it again, it suddenly disintegrated with a hiss, melting into ash. I stayed still for a moment, taking a few deep breaths and debating having a heart attack.

I figured the thing must have impaled itself on my sword. And not a second too soon, I realized, tentatively touching the shallow teeth marks in my neck. If it had had another moment to bite down, that would have been the end of Chris Rodriguez. I shook my head slowly, realizing that I was going to have to step up my game if I wanted to survive a day in here.

Particularly because a whole pack of the monsters chose that moment to come scuttling into the room, needlelike teeth bared. I scrambled to my feet, slashing my sword in a wide arc and taking out the first few, shoving Mary back with my free hand. I realized, however, that keeping them away from her was sort of impossible when we were standing in the middle of the room. Despite my best efforts, she was still besieged by the things. They snapped at her arm as she jabbed with her knife, narrowing her eyes, her jaw jutting forward belligerently.

It finally occurred to me that cutting a path to the wall would probably be a good idea. As soon as I started making a dent, though, the monsters suddenly turned tail, hissing at us as they flooded back into the dark tunnel. Mary and I stared dazedly after them, both of us trying and failing to act like we weren't completely shell-shocked.

"So, um," Mary said quietly. "You know what they were?"

I forced my ADHD brain, which was still in full-on monster-fighting mode, to remember my mythology lessons. Needless to say, said brain was not amused, but I got it after a few seconds. "Eurynomi," I replied. "Demons of the Underworld."

"Why'd they attack us?"

I thought for another moment. "They, uh, eat flesh."

"Oh. Nice."

"Yup."

She considered her next remark for a long time. "This is really going to suck, isn't it?"

"Most likely," I replied, raising an eyebrow. "I did warn you."

She stuck out her tongue.

**Yeah, I know it's short, sorry. I haven't decided what's going to happen next, though. If anyone knows of any really sweet mythological monsters, do let me know so that I ca torment my poor characters with them. ;)**

**And Crissie 12, yes, yes, a thousand times yes! Like I said, I really am awful at replying, because I either forget or don't really know what to say… but I still absolutely love getting reviews. Heh.**


	17. Jason Voorhees Is Not in the Labyrinth

**Why did Percy and co. find an exit pretty much whenever they needed one, but Chris stayed stuck for long enough to lose it? Excellent question. Once again, you can ask Mr. Riordan that, because I have absolutely no idea. Sorry. And I tried to make this one a little longer, since the last one sort of left a bit to be desired in the length department. :/**

The Labyrinth was pretty much the definition of "place you don't want to be at night." The thing was, it was _always_ night.

My watch still worked, miraculously, but it didn't really help me much. The digital second display seemed to be moving at a pretty reasonable speed, which was a bad thing, because it meant my watch was running on Labyrinth time. Maybe we'd only been down here for a few hours, but a week could've gone by up above for all I knew.

The Labyrinth seemed to have one rule and one rule only: If I was looking directly at it, it stayed put. For anything I couldn't see, all bets were off. I could glance over my shoulder down an empty hundred-yard straightaway, then turn again two seconds later and find a monster right behind me, which broke several laws of physics and even more of good taste. Never a strong enough monster that I couldn't kill it, of course. Just nasty enough to make me keep my guard up, and it was exhausting.

Mary and I wandered around aimlessly, both of us supposedly scanning the walls constantly for a Delta, although I knew we'd be lucky to spot it even if it was there. My ADHD brain kept wandering back to Camp Half-Blood, the Titan army, and the fact that I was starting to realize I sort of missed a certain psychotic daughter of Ares, who would probably try to kill me if and when she ever saw me again. The scary thing was, I knew she'd probably succeed.

So I didn't notice that the tunnel was getting darker until it abruptly turned and I walked face-first into the wall.

"Aw, c'mon. Not again," I complained, rubbing my forehead. When I focused, I could barely make out Mary's shape next to me, but not much more that that.

"You have any flashlights?" she asked, turning toward the sound of my voice.

"Huh? Oh yeah." I swung the pack I'd been given off my back, opening it and rooting around blindly. Finally my hand closed around what I was pretty sure had to be a flashlight. "These would've come in handy a while ago," I muttered, remembering the Eurynomi and glancing over my shoulder reflexively at the thought. Thankfully, the darkness appeared to be free of glowing red eyes. Hurrah. Count the small blessings, I supposed.

I found the switch, but hesitated. Somehow, I had utterly convinced myself that when I turned the flashlight on, the beam of light would be illuminating something that would scare the hell out of me.

"What are you waiting for?"

I scowled and clicked the light on, promising myself to lay off the scary movies if I ever got out of here. Of course, that thought made every scary movie I'd seen in my life run through my head, and suddenly the darkness was full of everything from aliens to Jason Voorhees. It occurred to me that Jason couldn't actually killed by a celestial bronze blade. Well, crap.

But it didn't matter, because Jason Voorhees was _not in the Labyrinth, dammit._

I scowled at myself, sweeping the beam around. Fortunately, no horror movie villains were lurking near us. At least not that I could see, although it honestly wouldn't have surprised me if the Labyrinth somehow pulled it off.

Mary grumbled as the light blinded her.

"Sorry," I muttered, still irrationally jumpy. The circle of light illuminated a rough, craggy rock ceiling, uncomfortably close to my head. It arched all the way down to the floor behind me, stretching off into the darkness in either direction. In front of me, the flashlight's beam stretched off until it eventually dimmed, without ever hitting anything. We were standing near the wall of some kind of huge chamber. The tunnel we'd been in, of course, was gone.

Mary's eyes darted nervously back and forth. Both of us stepped instinctively toward the wall, trying to keep an eye on the entire cave at once. I was fully expecting something to come looming out of the darkness at us. So, of course, nothing did. Not immediately, at least.

"We should probably move," Mary pointed out nervously after a while.

"Good idea," I agreed, secretly glad that it wasn't just me who was a bit freaked out by this.

We made our way along cautiously, keeping close to the wall and sending dubious glances at the yawning darkness to our left. Both of us knew perfectly well that it probably would have been smart to turn the flashlight off, but neither of us suggested it. I noticed after a while that the ceiling was growing higher. It was sort of nice, because it made me feel a bit less claustrophobic and I didn't have to duck every thirty seconds, but it somehow struck me as a bit ominous at the same time. Of course, pretty much everything the Labyrinth did was ominous.

It topped itself, however, when from the darkness ahead of us came a roar so loud that I honest-to-gods almost fell over backwards.

"Um, what do we do?" Mary squeaked from somewhere behind me.

I made an executive decision as a series of thuds and crashes that could easily have been confused with the end of the world rang out ahead of us. "I'm not fighting that. Run," I said, clicking off the flashlight. The next thing I heard was the patter of her feet. "Wha- Hey, wait!" I protested, taking off after her as the uproar behind me reached a crescendo.

"Where are you? I lost the wall," she cried a few seconds later.

"Over here," I replied, realizing to my dismay that I'd lost the wall too. "But I- _oof!_" I grunted as she ran straight into me.

The monster roared again, the sheer volume of it making me flinch. Whatever it was, it was big. I figured that if we could get back to the low-ceilinged part of the cave, it probably couldn't get to us, but there were two main problems with that plan: One, I wasn't completely sure which direction we'd come from, although I had a vague idea, and two, even if I _was_ right about the direction, the Labyrinth had probably changed it by now.

I wished I knew whether the monster was blind or not. If it was, I could've turned on the flashlight, but if it wasn't we would have been completely screwed, so I couldn't really risk it.

The ground shook, and an ominous rumbling filled the cavern, like the whole thing was about to collapse. I abandoned all subtlety, grabbing Mary's arm and sprinting away so fast that her feet left the ground. I had no idea where I was going, but I figured that possible danger beat certain death.

There was a loud snuffling sound behind me, way above my head, like the monster was trying to smell us. I cut to the side instinctively. A split second later, something hit the ground hard right where I would have been, the impact almost sending me flying again. Mary cried out in pain as I yanked on her arm by accident, which made me feel completely horrible, but I wasn't going to let her get eaten by a monster if I could help it. I knew it was only a matter of time until it smashed both of us, though, and I was already getting tired. I couldn't run at a dead sprint for this long.

Suddenly, one of my feet came down on empty space.

About ten different thoughts flashed through my mind in a split second. The first few were expletives and a general feeling of "Seriously, Labyrinth? How is this fair?" One of them, however, was the realization that I should probably let go of Mary's arm. I had way too much momentum to stop myself, but she might not go over the edge if I didn't drag her down with me. Of course, she'd be alone in the Labyrinth with what was probably the biggest monster I'd run across in my life, but there was a pretty good chance that this pit led straight to Tartarus, so I figured death by monster beat eternal torment.

As soon as I let go of her arm, though, she just grabbed me again. Dammit. I'd forgotten that she had demigod reflexes, too. Then I realized that she had actually tried to catch me, even though she had to know I weighed at least twice as much as she did. She'd known me for maybe two weeks and she was already taking ridiculous risks to try to help me, even though I'd gotten her into this in the first place.

I really did suck at life.

She lost her grip on my arm a moment later, but I could tell that she had fallen too, since she was screaming her head off. Not that I could talk, seeing as I was doing pretty much the same thing. We were either going to fall forever or land in Tartarus and get tortured by monsters for eternity, I realized.

See, now, that _would_ happen to me, I thought. I would be the one person to not only condemn myself to literally the worst fate possible, but I would bring a ten-year-old girl down with me, and leave everyone I knew thinking I was a traitor. Wow, Chris. Way to go.

Of course, I was forced to reconsider that assessment when I hit the ground two seconds later. The solid rock knocked the air out of me, leaving me dazed and wondering if I'd broken my ribs again. I didn't think I had, although I had a feeling it was going to leave a mark. I had finally managed to gasp in a breath when Mary landed on my back with a _thud, _knocking it right back out of me.

"You okay?" she asked, sounding more adrenaline-rushed than terrified.

"Never better," I groaned. I staggered to my feet unsteadily, glancing around and trying to figure out what kind of trouble I'd gotten us into _this_ time. The Labyrinth, however, seemed to finally be through with us, for the moment at least.

And that was the most ominous thing of all. Even if I hadn't broken anything, I was hurt, exhausted, miserable, and generally not in any kind of shape to fight anymore. If it had sent something after us, either Mary would have had to suddenly learn some very advanced combat skills, or both of us would have died. Which meant that the maze could sense how tired and injured I was, and was choosing not to kill us. Which, in turn, meant that it was just playing with us.

Fan-freaking-tastic.

And I _still_ couldn't see a godsdamned thing, except for a semicircle of light, like the mouth of a tunnel, maybe a hundred feet away. We started toward it, testing the ground carefully before putting any weight on our feet. I silently cursed Daedalus in with every step. Honestly, what kind of person could come up with this? Did he have any idea how many people his creation would trap, torment and kill? Or maybe the rumors that he was still alive were true. Maybe he was sitting at a control panel somewhere, laughing to himself and deciding what to throw at us next.

I scowled, deciding that if he _was_ alive I'd like to have a word with him.

I could hardly believe that a human could have come up with this, child of Athena or not. I tried to imagine one of the Athena kids I knew, Malcolm or Sean or even Annabeth, coming up with this.

And after a moment, I realized something scary: I _could_ imagine that. Pure intelligence could be ruthless. I couldn't imagine them deliberately throwing someone in here, I supposed, but coming up with the idea? It'd be right up their alley. I wasn't really sure what to make of that.

We trudged down the empty corridor until I finally snapped out of my reverie and noticed that Mary looked like she was about to pass out, dragging her feet with her eyes half closed. Presumably it was past her bedtime, in Labyrinth time at least. I realized that I was pretty tired too, but crashing in the middle of the tunnel didn't strike me as particularly appealing. Then again, what was my alternative? The entire maze was technically underground, sure, but there wasn't really any shelter within it. I couldn't exactly go into a room and shut the door behind me. There were only the tunnels, stretching off in every direction, constantly reminding me that the Labyrinth could kill me anytime it wanted, send a monster I couldn't fight at me, or just collapse the roof on my head. The only reason we were still alive was because it hadn't decided to kill us yet.

"Ready for bed?" I asked, deciding that I'd rather not think too hard about how pointless my effort was. Mary answered with a loud yawn. "O-kay then." I swung my pack off my back, but there was only one sleeping bag. I tossed it to her wordlessly.

"No, I'm fine," she protested, throwing it back.

"Take it," I said, chucking it at her again. She pitched it right back at me with a challenging glare.

So both of us ended up stretched out on the cold stone floor, the rolled-up sleeping bag sitting on the ground between us as we glared at the ceiling.

**Ah, aren't they the perfect pair of siblings? XD Thanks so much for the reviews last chapter; that was the most I think I've ever gotten! Think you could, uh, do it again? (smiles winningly)**

**Oh, and if you haven't done so, since most of you probably already have, read Calamity Clarisse. I'd thought I mentioned it in a different A/N, but it turns out I forgot, so, yeah. I just went back and ****re****read it, because I'm creepy like that, and it's so funny that I fell over backwards in my chair and bumped my head. No kidding. I always lean back anyway, so once I started laughing I lost my balance. I am such a winner. :D**

**While I'm plugging, I'd appreciate it if anyone would read my drabble collection. I'm actually a bit fond of it, and it's got, erm, exactly one review so far. :( Sorry, most annoying A/N ever, I know. I'm done now.**


	18. Mary Is Quite Contrary

**Yeah, I broke my chapter-naming rule, but I couldn't resist. It was too good to pass up. ;) And Crissy12, I think that site was specifically for fan-created characters, not canon. Although that would have been interesting, hmm… Actually, this was almost much longer, but it got so ridiculous that I eventually chopped it in two. **

For maybe a second and a half, right as I woke up, I completely forgot.

I thought of it as the next day, although of course it could've been Christmas Eve in the real world for all I knew. The pale white light hitting my closed eyes was identical to the morning sunlight that always filtered through the clean windows of Cabin Eleven. The cabin was always a mess, but the windows were never dirty. It was the one thing we were all a little neurotic about. And it_ was_ "we," I realized after a moment. I'd been in the right cabin all along. Technically.

I opened my eyes, and of course found myself staring at a stone ceiling, which was pretty much the exact opposite of a window. A split second of irrational fear flashed through me. I gritted my teeth, forcing myself to ignore it. Even yesterday, or before we'd gone to sleep, rather, being underground had freaked me out a bit. But I'd somehow managed to convince myself that it was only temporary, that I'd be out any time. Not anymore. I glanced up and down the corridor, trying to ignore the increasingly sick feeling in my stomach. Being underground really just wasn't my thing, and being in the Labyrinth made it ten times worse.

I found it sort of interesting that I was picking up some of the quirks I'd noticed the Hermes kids had in common, back when I'd been undetermined. I figured that a demigod's more godly characteristics were present before they were claimed, but more pronounced afterwards, because I definitely hadn't been this claustrophobic before. In fact, I'd made fun of Travis for weeks when he refused to help me carry crates of ambrosia up from the Big House cellar.

I guess this was karma.

Still, there was more good than bad. A few of the convenient little talents that I'd always envied in the other occupants of Cabin Eleven were starting to turn up. Maybe they'd been there the whole time and I was only noticing them now, but they seemed pretty new to me. There were some small things, like the fact that my night vision seemed a little better and my footsteps and breathing were a bit quieter, probably from Hermes' God of Thieves role. The really useful one, though, was speed. Looking back, I was starting to realize that some of the various blows I'd instinctively dodged should, by rights, have annihilated me.

I mean, it wasn't superhuman speed, or anything that couldn't have been passed off as natural in the mortal world. But I guess that was what being a Hermes kid was all about. We– and it still felt pretty strange to count myself among them– didn't have any truly supernatural powers, like Percy or the Apollo or Demeter kids. Even the Ares cabin could bench more than any human being had any right to, although I wasn't really sure that counted as a superpower.

But I was starting to appreciate the array of little skills and knacks that apparently came with my particular godly parent. Jack of all trades. That really was what Hermes was all about. Sure, I wasn't the strongest or the smartest, and I couldn't zap people with lightning or anything, but I had _some_ kind of an advantage over almost any opponent.

Emphasis on the "almost." I was pretty sure that a work of godsdamned _architecture_ wasn't really something I could dodge or outrun.

I leaned my back against the stone wall, glaring at the Labyrinth in general and wondering whether the color of the light was a coincidence. After all, how could it possibly know how to mess with me like that? I told myself that there was no way it could read my mind, ignoring the awful feeling that I was lying.

"Oh hey, we didn't get murdered in our sleep!" said Mary's cheerful voice. She sat up with a smile, apparently completely unconcerned by the fact that we were sitting underneath gods-knew-how-many tons of rock that were only supported by walls that had been around for thousands of years and could bury us alive at any given moment, not to mention collapse and trap us and cut off the air so that we'd suffocate, or-

"Chris?"

"Hmm?" I squeaked, hoping I didn't look as pale as I felt.

"What in Hades is wrong with you?"

"What? Nothing."

"Then why do you look like there's a monster over my shoulder?"

I hesitated, wondering whether I wanted to confide what were apparently my deepest, darkest fears, which I'd started being afraid of all of five minutes ago, to a ten-year-old who seemed to delight in making fun of me.

Mary looked a little scared now, her eyes darting to the side. "Um… there _isn't_ a monster behind me, is there?"

I couldn't help laughing. "Nah, you're good," I said. I was suddenly tempted to look over my own shoulder, but I reminded myself that there was a wall behind me, after all. Honestly. I was turning paranoid.

To my disbelief, Mary's eyes widened in that "Oh crap" way that I'd become pretty good at recognizing. I whirled. And somehow, I was completely unsurprised to find that there was no longer a wall behind me. Of course, that wasn't all. Nope, there was another demon of the Underworld standing behind me in the mouth of a tunnel that definitely wasn't there before, red eyes burning. Its impossibly sharp teeth were bared in what looked suspiciously like a mocking grin. Then it lunged.

I yelped, slicing my sword across the monster's neck a millisecond before it started trying to tear my throat out. I really, _really_ hoped that that little coincidence hadn't been the maze reading my thoughts and deciding to be ironic. But then, I supposed, if it really was designed to target the specific people who ended up down here, it would have to somehow read minds, wouldn't it?

I was forced to employ every ounce of mental willpower I possessed to keep any thought related to Jason Voorhees from crossing my brain. Dammit. Too late.

I decided not to think about the fact that the maze apparently had a sense of humor. Particularly because it appeared to be a very twisted brand of it. But apparently Mary's was just as twisted, because she was laughing incredibly hard.

"What?" I growled savagely, knowing perfectly well that I couldn't intimidate her if I tried.

"You just got a prank played on you by a building," she giggled.

"Ah, shut up."

The rest of the day continued in pretty much the same vein. We dodged spikes, pits, swinging axes, and what may or may not have been a mutated Venus flytrap. I wondered offhandedly how Aphrodite thought about having a carnivorous plant as her sort-of namesake. And then, of course, there were the monsters. Pretty much every single one in the book, and a few I'd never heard of, employed possibly the most admirably creative methods in history of sneaking up on us.

By the end of the day, in Labyrinth time at least, I was actually feeling pretty confident. Of course, the more rational part of my brain knew that it was just the maze tricking me. The demigod part of my brain, though, the one that had been murdering monsters all day, was feeling remarkably badass. Suddenly, I was sort of happy to be a year-round camper with three hundred percent more training than the summer-onlys. Sure, maybe we weren't so great at blending in and being mortals, but we were pretty damn good at being demigods.

And honestly, just the fact that I was thinking like that should have told me that the Labyrinth was up to something awful.

"How many children does Apollo have?" Mary asked me out of the blue as we flopped to the brick floor of a hopefully-deserted tunnel, picking food from my backpack for dinner. There wasn't all that much, but there was a lot of nectar and ambrosia, which could keep us going for pretty much forever.

I blinked, counting in my head. Aside from Mary, there was Andrew, Michael, Kim, Kayla, Will, Andy, Daniel… I gave up when the list got longer than I could keep track of.

"Um, sort of a lot," I replied.

She nodded, her eyes downcast. "I figured."

I wasn't really sure what to say to that. Now that I thought about it, Hermes had relatively few kids. Sure, the cabin was packed, but I'd be surprised if even half of them were actually his children. The Apollo cabin, I was pretty sure, was the next biggest. Of course, the Zeus cabin had probably been full to bursting before the Big Three pact. Poseidon and Hades too, for that matter. I rolled my eyes at the thought of a camp full of self-important Big Three demigods with powers that made the rest of us look like wusses. Honestly, compared to the other male gods, Hermes' kids were practically an endangered species.

I mean, I still wasn't exactly thrilled with the guy for going after my mom only a few years after what happened to Luke's. Just because the others were worse didn't make him okay. But honestly, I didn't want to be pissed off at him anymore. It was tiring and pointless. And besides, I didn't _like_ hating people. I'd hated pretty much everyone for years before I was claimed, and I still felt guilty about that. Of course, the only reason I'd done that was because Hermes refused to claim me, but now that I thought about it, that was probably only because he didn't want to make _Luke_ any angrier and sadder than he already was. It was reasonable, I suppose. Being unclaimed was no fun, but Luke probably would've left camp immediately if Hermes had claimed me while he was there. Luke left anyway, I guess, but maybe Hermes just didn't want to be the direct cause of it. Which was still completely unfair to me, but on a level that I could deal with.

Trying to puzzle out Hermes' motivations had left me so thoroughly confused that I eventually settled on an oversimplified conclusion: Who the Hades knew what went on in his head? If I got to talk to him one day and ask him, great. If I died first, then I guess that just sucked for me, now didn't it?

Apollo, I decided, was still a creep. I mean, jeez. Two of his kids had different moms and the same birthday.

"Who's the counselor?" Mary asked.

"Huh? Oh, uh, Lee Fletcher," I replied, suddenly jolted back to Earth. Or back under it, I guess.

"What's he like? Are there any kids my age?" The expression on her face was longing, and I was tempted once again to ask her what her life had been like before the Titans got her. I figured, though, that it wasn't any of my business. She'd tell me if she felt like it. And besides, she hadn't asked about my past either, which I was grateful for.

"Lee's cool," I said. I knew him pretty well, since he was my age. It occurred to me that if Hermes had claimed me earlier, I would've been the counselor for my cabin, since I was the oldest. Suddenly, I was sort of glad he'd waited. Responsibility was _not_ my specialty. Of course, that meant the job had fallen to Travis since Luke left, which went about as well as one might expect, but that was Stoll's problem.

"I don't for the life of me get why his siblings listen to a word he says, though. Biggest pushover you'll ever meet, but they follow him. And I know there are a few kids your age," I continued, standing up and slinging the bag onto my back.

Mary grinned, trotting down the tunnel after me. "What's the cabin like?"

"I've never been inside," I shrugged. "But when the sun hits it right, the outside looks like gold."

"What about your cabin?"

"It's, uh, wood. Kinda crowded and messy, but…" I trailed off, trying to think of a way to make the Hermes cabin sound good. Mary shot me a sympathetic look. "I _like_ my cabin!" I said defensively. And I did. It had a certain carefree spirit to it that I loved. The Hermes cabin didn't show off or try too hard. It stepped up when you needed it and wreaked harmless havoc when you didn't.

"How about…" Mary's question trailed off ominously. Her eyes narrowed, and she grinned like the Cheshire cat, if the Cheshire cat was also a shark that had just smelled blood. "How about the Ares cabin?"

Dammit. I'd forgotten she stumbled across that little bit of information on the Princess Andromeda. I shot my best death glare at her, the one that could make Charles Beckendorf back off. She laughed. "Are there any _girls_ in the Ares cabin?"

I scowled. "Yes. I told you that already."

"Oh, right, you did, didn't you? Because one of them beats you up."

"No she doesn't!"

"You told me she did."

"Well, I… uh… I mean, we're training partners. She just… wins," I mumbled, sorely regretting mentioning Clarisse to Mary.

Mary gave me that impossibly cynical look again. "You're six foot three, Chris. I've seen you fight about two billion monsters. _You let her win._"

"I do not! I mean, well… I guess I sort of… Maybe I _kind _of…"

"That is so CUTE!" she shrieked suddenly, making me jump.

"Are you sure Apollo and Aphrodite didn't get you mixed up? What is _with_ you?" I cried. "And how is that cute? That's the opposite of cute!"

But she was cackling too loudly to hear me. I groaned resignedly, stomping down the tunnel as she shot questions at me.

"What color is her hair?"

"Brown."

"Is she tall?"

"Yeah."

"Taller than you?"

"Wha- No!"

"What color are her eyes?"

"Uh, reddish-brown I guess?"

"That's creepy."

"Shut up."

"Is she nice?"

"… Um."

She kept it up for an amazingly long time, the questions getting steadily more dubious, until she eventually came out with one that, to her great amusement, made me turn bright red.

"Answer me!" she pouted.

"I most certainly will not!" I protested indignantly.

Mary raised an eyebrow. "If you don't answer questions, people will think you have something to hide."

"What if you _do_ have something to hide?"

"Then you're a creep!" she declared happily.

"_I'm_ a creep? _I_ am not the creepy one here!"

She considered that for a moment, then shrugged. "Whatever. Oh look, a door."

I glanced up a split second before I walked into it, almost missing it because I'd been looking down to argue with her. It was a big, solid thing, with old-looking, weathered wood and lines of rivets. Just before I could ask her whether we should risk opening it, it swung open of its own accord, which pretty much answered my question: Hell no.

"Come in!" cried a voice from inside. Mary and I threw each other confused glances. There couldn't be a person in there, could there? Despite the fact that we both probably knew it was a terrible idea, curiosity made us step forward. I stuck my head around the doorframe warily, drawing my sword. The room was circular, maybe twenty feet in diameter, with a fountain in the middle and a mosaic of the gods on the ceiling.

"Well, don't be all day!" the voice continued, cheery and impatient. My eyebrows shot up when I saw the source, but I stepped into the room, Mary behind me. The door slammed shut, which probably shouldn't have surprised me. There were two more on the other side, though, with an individual I was pretty sure I recognized standing in front of them. Greek mythology could get pretty weird, but having two faces was still something you didn't see every day. They were on opposite sides of his head, which was turning back and forth as each face tried to get a better look at us. He was dressed like he was going somewhere important.

"I'm Janus!" the guy announced. Well, one of him, anyway. "If you didn't know."

"Which you ought to," snapped the other face. "Honestly. No one pays me any respect anymore."

"No, I, uh, knew," I said hesitantly, a bit thrown off by how quickly he spoke, like he was deliberately trying to confuse me.

"Well, good for you," the second face said mockingly. "So are you going to pick?"

"A door, he means," said the other one, a little more nicely.

"Duh. What else?" The guy's head turned back and forth, like the faces were trying to glare at each other.

"One of them is the one you want. The other leads to certain death," the nicer one continued helpfully."

I blinked. "Oh. Great. And I assume there's no way you could just open the door we came in through?"

The second face rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath while the other one answered me. "Sorry, no can do. This is a juncture; you've got to pick at some point. Trust me, we're not the worst one."

"There's a worse one than a fifty-fifty shot of certain death?" Immediately after I asked the question, I realized how stupid it sounded. Janus seemed to agree.

"Uh… yes?" they said in unison. Apparently the fact that I was an idiot was the only thing that they could agree on.

"Such as a fifty-one percent chance of death," said one.

"Or fifty-two."

"Or even fifty-three."

"Okay, I get it," I cut them off, studying the doors. There wasn't any discernible difference between them. "Um… hmm. Mary? Any opinion?"

"Heck no," she replied, shaking her head. "If we die it can be your fault, thank you very much."

I tried not to think about how true that was. "O-kay then. Well, how about-"

"Just a moment, if you please, Janus," said a voice behind me. I whirled, pointing my sword at the source. It was a fit-looking guy in a jogging suit, maybe forty years old, with curly black hair and pointed features.

"As you please, Lord Hermes," said Janus, vanishing.

Oh. Hermes. I blinked, deciding that lowering my sword was probably a good plan. Aside from that, I was pretty much at a total loss. Was I supposed to kneel or something? I didn't particularly want to, although getting blasted to dust wasn't really at the top of my to-do list either.

"Hello, Christopher- Chris," he said calmly, sitting in a simple chair that definitely wasn't there before. I stared back like a deer in headlights. "I apologize for not showing myself before. As you no doubt realized, appearing on the Princess Andromeda was not an option, and this is one of the only places in the Labyrinth that I have any power."

I still didn't reply, but he must have read my confusion, because he answered my unspoken question. "No, the gods have no influence over most of it. We didn't create it. This room, however, Daedalus intentionally crafted so that we could appear here, as a gesture of goodwill toward us."

"Oh," I replied eloquently, sinking into the chair he'd created for me, next to another one for Mary. I had no idea what to say, because there was a ridiculous amount of stuff I _had_ to say. "Can you get us out of here? Or give us Ariadne's string, or- or something?" I finally asked, deciding that that was the most important for the moment.

He sighed. "I can't. You know that." Yeah, I did know that. But I had to ask. "I just came because I thought I… should." He looked genuinely sorry. It was kind of ridiculous, but I almost felt bad for him. One of his sons was a leader of the enemy side and another one was in the Labyrinth. Hermes had a reputation as being one of the gods who actually cared about his kids, so I figured that being him probably wasn't all that much fun right now. A small part of me was still a little ticked off at him, but I was starting to understand why he'd done everything he had. There wasn't anything he could do about Luke. Not claiming me was just damage control. Now that I thought about it, he'd probably felt worse about it than I did. At least I got to blame someone.

"I guess you probably can't tell me this either, but… are we going to live?"

I knew he wasn't going to answer me, but the look in his eye did. "I can't. If we told you the future, it would… well, honestly, I don't know what would happen."

I thought about it. If he told me something that made me act differently, then the future would be completely different, and whatever problem he'd seen would no longer exist. Which would mean that when whoever in the present had looked into the future in the first place did so, they wouldn't see that problem anymore, which in turn would mean Hermes wouldn't know about it, which would mean that I wouldn't do whatever I'd done differently. Then the problem would exist all over again, and… wow. Jeez. Being a god was complicated.

"He's right," Mary commented. It occurred to me that as the daughter of the God of Prophecies, she probably understood this a lot better than I did.

"I figured. So, uh… anything else?" I winced at how awkward I sounded. I'd never talked to a god before, and the fact that the god I was now talking to was also my father was throwing me off quite a bit.

Hermes looked like he didn't have any more of a clue about what to say than I did. "I'm sorry about… all of this. Apollo tells me the future when I ask, but he can't monitor what happens to every demigod. I honestly never thought to ask. If I'd known that leaving you unclaimed would make this happen-"

"You still wouldn't have been able to do anything," I said, raising an eyebrow. "That would be changing to future, wouldn't it?"

"I- yes. But- I don't know." He rubbed his temple tiredly, and I felt kind of sorry for pointing it out. I was still wondering what he had really hoped to achieve by coming here in the first place. Making me feel better? Making him feel better? Somehow helping me? I got the feeling that he was asking himself the exact same questions. Funny. You'd think being alive for two thousand years would make you know what to do in pretty much any situation, but I guess this was a special kind of awkward.

After another moment of silence, Hermes stood up. "Well… good luck," he said, his voice sounding slightly helpless. I got the feeling that even though he really was concerned about me, there was a lot of other stuff he was worried about, too.

"Thanks. You too," I replied. Could gods have luck? I wasn't really sure, but if they could, he needed it. He looked like he felt even worse than before, and I decided that I'd actually rather be in my shoes than his. I glanced down, and he disappeared in a flash of light.

"Well," said Mary. "That was…"

"Yup," I agreed.

"Look, are you going to pick a door or not?" came Janus' impatient voice. I gestured vaguely at the door on the right, trying to decide what to make of Hermes. I didn't entirely agree with every decision he'd made, but he was definitely a good guy who meant well. I felt pretty guilty for hating him for six years, although I figured that that hadn't been entirely my fault. And my current position was definitely more of my own doing than his. Technically he was the reason I'd left camp, but there were about ten places since then that I could've been less of a jackass and prevented this from happening.

Janus produced a silver key from thin air. The huge door melted away, and I walked into the tunnel automatically, still in a bit of a daze.

"You think we'll meet Apollo too?" Mary asked as the door re-formed behind us.

"Huh? Oh, uh, I dunno," I replied. "I mean, Hermes said that was one of the only places the gods could appear in here." I could barely see her in the dark tunnel, but I could imagine her face falling.

I was keeping my back to the rough wood of the door. I figured that as long as I could actually prove it was there, the Labyrinth couldn't replace it with anything, and I wouldn't have to watch my back until we decided what to do. The tunnel itself wasn't much taller or wider than I was, a fact that I wasn't particularly happy about. The walls were made of rough rock, and the floor felt dusty, with a slight downward slope to it.

"Certain death," I commented. "Huh. Do you feel dead?"

"Not particularly."

"Same. Well, I guess we'd better see if we can keep it that way." I drew my sword, figuring that it would be pretty hard to draw it fast in a tunnel this narrow if it turned out that I'd need it, and I figured I'd rather be safe than sorry.

"Chris?" came Mary's voice after I'd walked a small distance down the tunnel. For some reason, she hadn't followed me. She sounded the tiniest bit scared, which instantly put me on alert.

"What?" I replied carefully.

The sound of her footsteps pattered toward me before she ran straight into me again. "_There_ you are."

"I… yeah?" I asked, confused. "Where else would I be?"

"I didn't hear you move!" she said. "You were there talking to me, and then you just… weren't."

I couldn't help grinning. Being a son of Hermes was way better than I'd expected. I was already anticipating the chaos I could cause at camp, and suddenly understood why the Stolls caused as much trouble as they did. Of course, I'd have to survive this first, which was going to be easier said than done.

Mary grabbed my hand, and we crept down the hallway, hoping we hadn't lost the Labyrinth's game of Russian roulette. For a while, the tunnel continued without changing at all, but soon I caught sight of a flickering glow ahead. I wasn't really sure whether that was a good thing or not, but I had a feeling that turning back just wasn't an option. When we reached it, I began to wish it had been.

The room couldn't have been more than twelve or so feet wide, but it extended at least twice that ahead of us. I probably could have touched the ceiling if I jumped. Torches burned in iron sconces, making the black marble walls glow red. But the most unnerving detail was the bottom foot or so of the walls, or rather the lack thereof. A band of inscrutable darkness ran around the perimeter of the room, and the flow of stale, cold air drifting across the floor told me that it was more than just a shallow recess. I couldn't see anything that looked like it might kill us, but I still had an awful feeling that I'd chosen wrong.

**Sorry if this one was a little boring. I'd intended for there to be some decent action, but the conversations took for-freaking-ever and the chapter got too long. I'm not all that fond of Hermes' little cameo, but I had fun writing Chris and Mary's "discussion" about Clarisse. Reviews are as appreciated as ever, of course. ;)**


	19. A Nice Little Cocktail of Neurotoxins

**Okay, so just for the record, I was really, **_**really**_** tired when I wrote part of this, so if a huge block of it reads a bit strangely, sorry about that. Exam week. Mehhh. :P It's a lot more exciting than the last chapter though, heh. -evil grin-**

Why was it that the only time I was right was when I really, really hoped I wasn't?

I took a tentative step forward, the marble slippery under my feet. This room screamed "bad news." I tried to watch the ring of darkness surrounding the room, but it was impossible to track all of it at once. I wanted to tell myself that nothing would happen, but I was pretty sure I'd be lying. Fifty percent chance of certain death… this really wasn't looking promising.

A tiny sound, like a barely perceptible rustling, came from my right. I whirled toward it, but there was nothing there, only that layer of blackness.

We advanced further into the room. Mary was clasping my hand so tightly that I was pretty sure she was going to leave a bruise, but I didn't really blame her. Another sound, this one also so quiet that I couldn't be certain I hadn't imagined it, came from the wall. It was still directly next to me, like it was following us. I gulped, tightening my grip on my sword, trying and failing to convince myself that it was nothing. The flickering red torchlight was the only illumination, so that tiny movement must have been a trick of the light, right? Except it wasn't moving anymore, but there was still _something_ under there. The red glow was being reflected back to me dully, off of… what?

And then there was a five-foot-long scorpion scuttling toward me.

Now, I liked to think that I was pretty hard to faze. Sure, I got scared sometimes, but I always fought back anyway. The thing was, I really, really didn't like things that stung.

Out in the strawberry fields at camp, whenever a wasp would show up and the girls would all run away screaming, it would take all of my willpower not to follow them. It wasn't that I was afraid of the pain; after the things actually stung me I just cussed a bit and then forgot about it. It was only the moments _before_ it happened that that I dreaded, because I was the one the bee went for every single freaking time. I always knew it was coming_._ Once, Travis started chasing a hornet around with a can of bug spray when it got into the Hermes cabin, and who did it go after? Me, of course, even though I'd just walked in the door and was only standing there trying to figure out what the Hades was going on.

So when I saw the scorpion, the thought of fighting it simply didn't occur to me. I thought hopefully that maybe this would be like a bee sting, where the anticipation was worse than the actual pain.

Yeah, that would have been nice.

I stood paralyzed while Mary shrieked behind me. The thing's barbed tail swung forward like a whip and tore into my shoulder, leaving a ragged wound that would have been deep enough to kill me if it had been a tiny bit closer to my heart, even without venom. And with the venom, it was probably going to kill me anyway.

Certain death.

The pain hit me, and I collapsed to my knees with a silent scream, my sword clattering to the ground. It was infinitely worse than anything I'd felt before, a burning, blinding agony.

The scorpion came closer, and my breath caught in my throat. I couldn't tear my eyes from the creature. If a scorpion could look triumphant, it did. The stinger swung forward again, over my shoulder, slashing across my back and knocking me onto my face. I stayed down, my cheek pressed against the cool marble, paralyzed by sheer pain. It felt like someone had dumped acid on my back. I honestly wondered if the venom was eating my skin away.

Mary screamed again, my name I think. The scorpion stalked toward her slowly, its feet clicking against the floor right in front of my wide eyes. There was no way she could fight the thing. The problem was, I couldn't either. The burning in my shoulder and back intensified, like a brand growing hotter and hotter. My skin felt seared and raw where the venom touched me. It slipped into my veins, setting my blood on fire, and there was nothing I could do to get away from it. There was no way I could survive this.

Through the daze, I could still hear Mary yelling my name. Her footsteps darted around behind me as she tried to reach me, only to be forced to jump back by the lunging scorpion. I wanted to scream at her to get the Hades out of there, but if I opened my mouth I probably _would _have screamed, and there was no way she would've listened to me, anyway.

The worst part was listening to the quick rustles and Mary's ragged sobs behind me as she and the monster dodged each other. She was doing a much better job of fighting it than I had, although it would've been difficult not to, but I knew it couldn't last. She had a knife and barely any training, and I flinched at every sound, awaiting the fateful one of stinger meeting flesh.

I had to do something. I had no idea what I was hoping to accomplish, seeing as I couldn't even muster the strength to lift my head off the ground, but I stretched my arm toward my sword.

And the scorpion turned on me for the third time, its razor-sharp stinger slashing my arm from wrist to elbow. The last of my will dissolved as the new pain tore through me, and I yelled, hating myself for it. I was supposed to be brave for her, damn it. I was supposed to be able to kill any monster we came across, beat the whole Labyrinth, because I got her into this and I _had_ to get her out.

But I wasn't good enough. I couldn't do it.

Then Mary did what was possibly the most heroic and idiotic thing I'd seen in my life. In the split second before the scorpion turned back to her, she launched herself at it knife-first with a furious shriek. The monster writhed wildly, and Mary went flying out of my line of sight. My vision was starting to blur. I couldn't tell whether she'd killed it, it had killed her, or they had both killed each other.

I was pretty sure it had killed me. My breathing was shallow and painful, and I could barely see. The fiery pain was replaced with a cold numbness. Every second was a struggle to stay conscious, but I refused to pass out or die or whatever was happening to me until I knew whether she was okay.

A few sounds, distant to my ears, came from Mary's corner of the room, and a shadow fell across my closed eyes as she leaned over me. She was alive. There was nothing else I could do. I let go.

xxx

It was the morning of the day I left Camp Half-Blood. Clarisse and I were sparring in the training arena, as usual. I was cornered, as usual. And Clarisse seemed exceedingly delighted by that fact, as usual.

She twisted her spear handle deftly, sending my sword spinning out of my hand and leveling her weapon against my throat. I gulped, then learned the hard way that that wasn't a smart thing to do when there was an extremely sharp weapon against my neck.

"Who spars with a sharpened spear?" I complained.

She looked confused. "This is the spear I fight with. Obviously I have to train with it, and what would I do if it was dull and we were attacked?"

"What would _I _do if you stabbed me by accident? Or on purpose?"

She wrinkled her eyebrows, giving the question honest thought. "Die?"

I laughed, leaning against the arena wall. She looked confused at first, then started laughing too. "Ah, c'mon. You know I'm too talented to kill you by accident."

"How charitable of you."

"Thanks. Yeah, if I killed you it would definitely be on purpose." She smiled, and it occurred to me that she was standing close to me. _Really _close. Like, physical-contact-if-I-moved-a-muscle close.

"Great to know," I replied weakly, completely flustered.

And the weird thing was, she looked a little flustered, too. "Actually, I, um, had to ask you something," she said, running a hand through her hair awkwardly and looking down at her combat boots. She even took her spear away from my throat, which was a pretty big deal. Clarisse _never_ ended a fight until she'd won, and honestly, up until that point, I hadn't been entirely sure that this wasn't just some kind of an elaborate strategy.

Of course, it might have been that she was only trying to ask whether I was planning on leaving camp, since that was what she ended up asking me later that night. At the time, though, I couldn't help considering some very different possibilities. Because honestly, it was _Clarisse. _Clarisse simply didn't lower her spear in the middle of a fight. Then again, she didn't… well… _like_ people either, but I desperately wanted for that to be what this was about.

"I… yeah?" I managed to say, trying not to show that I was putting in some serious effort to restrain myself from doing a victory dance. I was starting to acknowledge the patterns that I'd seen all along. We were always on patrol together when she arranged them. She forbade her cabin mates from beating me up, although I liked to think that that had been unnecessary. And most of all, the godsdamned Daughter of Aphrodite had said she liked me. Or something like it, at least.

"I…" Clarisse began, then stopped, scowling at the ground. I could tell by the way she was sticking out her bottom jaw that she was giving something some serious thought. She glanced up suddenly, looking me in the eye. There was definitely a challenge in that look, but there was something else, too. Not fear, exactly– honestly, the day Clarisse was scared of me would be the day the world ended– but uncertainty, maybe. And suddenly, I was tempted to just _say_ it, because Clarisse wasn't _supposed_ to look uncertain.

But I didn't, because I couldn't quite believe what I was telling myself. I just stood there like an idiot, hoping with all I had that Silena Beauregard was onto something.

Clarisse's eyebrows knitted together. "You have a bee on you," she stated calmly.

See, that's the kind of thing she does to me, every single freaking time. She didn't tell me where the bee was. She just informed me that I was about to be injected with a nice little cocktail of neurotoxins, giving me just enough time to dread it but not enough to do anything about it.

As it turned out, I didn't need to. She lashed out impossibly quickly, smacking me on the side of the neck and presumably smashing some poor yellow jacket to a pulp, although I couldn't muster much sympathy for the insect. I was amazed, though. Not because she'd been able to kill it; I'd learned the hard way how fast she was. But because as a general rule, when there was a bee on me, people pointed to it and backed away slowly. No one ever tried to kill it, because honestly, who wanted to get stung if they could help it?

But that was Clarisse for you. I mean, worst-case scenario, it would have stung me, I would have cussed a bit, and everything would have been fine. But she just… killed the bee, without even stopping to think about it. And I'm sure she would've done it for anyone, and maybe I was reading way too much into it, but my already-slightly-stalkerish level of admiration for her skyrocketed.

I was probably completely off base, but I couldn't help thinking that maybe I understood her just a bit better than most of the demigods did. She didn't train because she was competitive and wanted to be the best; it was because, for all of our sakes, she wanted to be the strongest she could possibly be when it became necessary. And it was sure to, at some point within the next few years. Clarisse was smart, I knew that. Actually, she'd explained it to me once. Ares and Athena sort of overlapped in the strategy department. The Athena kids couldn't exactly play dumb, but the Ares kids could, and did. It was a strategy in and of itself.

Actually, she'd beaten that particular lesson into me with a spear handle when we were thirteen and, in my eternal wisdom and gallantry, I'd called her cabin dumbasses after they beat us at Capture the Flag. In my defense, the Ares guy who'd put me in jail had done so by picking me up by the ankle and carrying me a quarter mile while I swore at him the whole way. And it had always struck me as a bit ironic that in the process of forcibly informing me of how smart she was, she'd undermined the strategy of keeping said intelligence a secret in the first place. Then again, maybe she'd outwitted me in the end, because sheer terror of her mighty wrath had prevented me from telling anyone for three years. I was always tempted to, though, whenever the other Hermes guys would start dissing the Ares cabin. Never to their faces, of course. Nobody dissed Ares to their faces.

It occurred to me that, aside from sparring and Capture the Flag, Clarisse hadn't attempted my murder in over a year. Maybe we really were getting somewhere.

"Uh, thanks," I said, rubbing subconsciously at the side of my neck.

Clarisse sighed. "Welcome. Capture the Flag tonight, remember. You're on my team. Defense. Be ready."

And just like that, whatever she'd been about to say before, she'd obviously changed her mind.

I freaking _hated _bees.

xxx

I was starting to detect a bit of a theme in my life. Broken arm, broken ribs… Every time I thought I'd experienced the most physical pain possible, the universe just had to go and prove me wrong. Basically, today was not my day.

I was suddenly aware of the fact that I was laying on the ground, my cheek pressed against the cool, smooth marble. It took me another moment to realize that I was in excruciating pain, and yet another to remember why.

"Chris."

I couldn't move or open my eyes. I could barely think. The white-hot burn radiated from the actual wounds, but my entire body felt like I'd been dragged to Hades and back. It was a survivable pain, one that I could endure without losing my mind, but barely. The kind that wasn't quite so bad that I couldn't keep myself from screaming at the top of my lungs, but bad enough that I was very, very tempted to.

"Wake _up,_ Chris."

How many days had gone by up above? How long had I been gone from camp? Clarisse probably hated me. Which meant that I had to make it back. I knew in some vague, offhanded way that everyone else did too, but she was the only person I could bring myself to care about. She thought I was a traitor. I _was_ a traitor. But I couldn't die without at least explaining what had happened, and begging and pleading on my knees if necessary for her to forgive me.

"Chris, please wake up."

A hand shook my shoulder, and I groaned at the stab of pain it sent through me. A shadow fell over my face, and I cracked open my eyes to see Mary leaning over me, her own eyes almost comically wide. "_Chris!_" she cried.

"Sorry," I mumbled. It was all I could manage, but it seemed appropriate.

"Oh my- You-" she gasped hysterically, still leaning on my shoulder, which was more than a little painful but it seemed a bit heartless to tell her that. "I mean, you were breathing, but it's been I don't even know how long, and certain death, and that _thing_ and there might be more of them and I swear to the gods if you don't get up in two minutes I'll kill you myself because I _swear_ I can hear them moving and I can't watch the entire room at once and-" She broke off for breath, looking like she was about to cry. Her eyes were red, like she'd been crying before.

I felt more awful than I knew it was possible to feel. This was just one more thing to add to the list of terrible things I'd done: Frozen up and made a tiny, untrained kid fight a giant scorpion to save my sorry skin. Actually, she'd saved me twice. I knew perfectly well that the scorpion's venom was almost certainly supposed to be deadly, and by rights one sting probably should have killed me. The only reason I could think of that I was still alive, if you could call the state I was in "alive," was that Mary's sheer presence as a daughter of Apollo had saved me.

And she wanted to get out of this room. Well, that's what we'd do, then. I didn't feel like I could stand up without collapsing, but I was determined to walk out by willpower alone. Grabbing my sword, I heaved myself upright clumsily, swaying dizzily and almost falling on my face. The constant burning in my blood increased tenfold, and I knew I had about thirty seconds until the venom that was clearly still in my veins made me black out.

Mary grabbed my backpack from the floor even though it probably weighed as much as she did, and I staggered after her toward the tunnel on the far side of the room. I felt myself growing more dazed with every step, the blood pounding in my ears, but I was determined to make it out of that room before I lost consciousness again. It was going to be close. I gritted my teeth when she grabbed my arm, but I needed her help and I knew it. My pride had already taken its biggest beating in a while; I figured it was pretty much a lost cause at this point.

"So, um," Mary said quietly, and even in the gloomy passage– or maybe it was just my vision dimming again– I could make out the little, sidelong smirk. "Her name's Clarisse, huh?"

I smiled despite myself. "Yeah."

We rounded a corner and the tunnel widened into a small, dim chamber with rock walls and a sandy floor. I didn't actually remember collapsing, but suddenly the sand was a lot closer to my face than it was before, and then it was gone.

**Ah, Chris, you failure, you. I hate bees. And scorpions. Can you tell? Reviews make me update faster. Well, not really, but they make me more enthusiastic when I **_**do**_** actually get around to writing, so…**


	20. Chris Gets Dissed

**Chapter 20, oh boy! Let's see if Chris' life will get any better. (Spoiler: It won't.)**

I wouldn't know what being hung over felt like, but I was pretty sure that if you took that and raised it to the power of infinity, it would be something like what I was feeling when I woke up.

"Conscious for good this time?" Mary asked, raising an eyebrow from where she was sitting next to me.

"Unfortunately," I groaned, rubbing my head with the arm that didn't feel like someone was stabbing it with a pitchfork. I wondered how Mary would react to this entire escapade. Would she just take it in stride, making fun of me for it occasionally, or had I taken a serious fall from grace? If she'd thought I was invincible, that illusion had definitely been shattered.

"I _told_ you I could help," she smirked.

So. The first one, then.

"I never doubted it. I just didn't want something like that to happen to _you._" I tried to sit up, winced, and decided to stay down.

"Hmph," she replied. "You do realize that our being here is just as much my fault as it is yours, right?"

"Well, I- wait, what?" I asked, thoroughly confused.

"You never would've joined if not for me," she pointed out. "'Course, you probably would've ended up dead one way or the other, but you wouldn't have been thrown down here."

"Technically she pushed me."

Mary shot me a look disturbingly reminiscent of Clarisse. "You know what my point is."

"Yeah, and you're wrong," I argued. "You were in the wrong place at the wrong time. If it wasn't you, it would've been someone else. I was just an idiot."

"Yeah, you were, but that's not what my point was." She looked genuinely angry. "Look, what do I have to do to prove myself to you? I killed a monster that beat you easily."

"Prove yourself to me? Mary, you're a good fighter, I know that! And trust me, I genuinely appreciate you killing the scorpion," I protested, shivering at the thought of the monster and electing to ignore the unwarranted attack on my pride. "But I'm six years older than you; I've been trained! You can't expect me to-"

"Yes I can!" she cried. "Every time there's a monster you step in front of me! How do you think I'd feel if you got killed trying to protect me?"

My voice rose as I struggled to keep my temper. "How do you think I'd feel if I didn't and you died?" I glared at her, raising myself onto my elbows painfully.

"I don't _care_ how you'd feel!" She was pretty much screaming by now.

"That doesn't matter!" I roared back, giving up on keeping my cool. "This _is_ my fault and I'll die however the hell I want to!"

Mary's eyes narrowed. I would never have guessed that she was capable of looking genuinely dangerous, but she pulled it off. "Not like that," she growled. She slammed her fist down right on the sting on my shoulder, and I collapsed onto my back with a hiss. Before I knew what had happened, she put her knife to my throat, angling the blade toward the left of my neck and jamming her knee against my jaw so that I couldn't slip out from under it. "Promise you won't try to die for me, Chris."

I considered screaming at her, closing my eyes and waiting it out, and physically fighting her. None seemed particularly appealing. "You're being unreasonable," I pointed out. I knew I could get the knife from her if I needed to, but I didn't want to resort to that before I absolutely had to. "You're going to kill me to prevent me from sacrificing myself?"

"No, because you're going to promise," she said calmly, putting more pressure on the knife and forcing my head back. "Come on, Chris, it's not like I'm not asking you to kill me. Just don't die for me."

Like the idiot I was, I shook my head. Both of us winced as a trickle of blood ran down my neck. "Move the knife, Mary. This is completely ridiculous and you know it." Even the tiny movement caused by my voice deepened the cut.

She started to look pissed off again. "No it's not! You think that because I'm younger I can't do anything and you've got yourself convinced that you brought this on me, and you _didn't,_ and I know you're going to do something stupid and I'm going to be alone down here! We're going to die, okay? You think I don't know that? You told me that's what the Labyrinth is for, that you'd been sentenced to death!" With every sentence, the knife bit deeper into my neck. I knew she wasn't doing it on purpose, but if she didn't lay off I was going to have to fight her before she actually did some damage. Her anger was gone, but now she was crying, which was worse. "And I came down here with you anyway, did you even consider that? I knew! I didn't care! We're going to die and that's fine but I _don't_ want to be alone down here!"

For a moment, I was lost for words. Everything she said was completely true. But I still couldn't make that promise. "You're right," I said softly. "But I know you're not going to kill me, and don't you think if I'd be willing to die for you that wouldn't matter anyway?" I knew I was taking a gamble. I would never have dreamed that she was capable of the violence she was exhibiting, and there was no guarantee that she wouldn't stab me in the arm or something just to prove a point. Were all demigods completely insane? I realized for the first time that we were probably all programmed to be ridiculously violent and aggressive. That would explain a lot, actually.

"If I'm right, that shouldn't matter." But I could tell she was losing steam. She pulled the now-bloody knife back suddenly, jamming it into its sheath. "Look, I- I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking, and I know you probably could've killed me that entire time if you felt like it, but would you _please_ just promise?"

It was amazing how a pair of big, pleading eyes was more convincing than a knife blade, but I shook my head stubbornly. "Sorry."

She turned away from me wordlessly, pulling her knees up to her chest and leaning her chin on them. I sighed, laying my head in the sand again and rubbing my neck. This _was_ my fault, no matter what she said. If there was a situation where I could die to save her and I didn't, I'd never be able to live with myself. And now, if that happened, I'd probably feel guilty in the Underworld, too. Great.

xxx

We ended up staying in that cave for a few days, until I could swing my sword without feeling the need to cuss out every creature on the planet that dared to call itself an arthropod. Neither of us seemed willing to give any ground on the argument. It occurred to me that that was the first fight with her I'd actually won. Somehow, I didn't feel very victorious. I couldn't stop thinking about everything she'd said, why she'd followed me into the maze, what would happen if I got myself killed. How did I get myself into lose-lose situations like this?

The nice thing about Mary was that she didn't hold a grudge. The new scar across my neck probably had something to do with it. How was it that I felt guilty because _she'd_ hurt _me_? Not guilty exactly, but sympathetic. I knew how I'd feel if I hurt her like that even by accident, and it hadn't been an accident.

I wasn't exactly angry at her, but I wasn't thrilled about it, either. Sure, I could have gotten the knife from her if I needed to, but I still didn't particularly appreciate her deciding to hold a blade to my throat to get what she wanted. Even if what she wanted was for me not to get myself killed.

But in the end, it was still my fault. Mary wasn't a violent person, not by demigod standards at least. She had just been desperate and scared and stressed out, because I'd dragged her to a place that really couldn't be much better than Tartarus. No wonder she'd snapped. And now she couldn't look me in the eye because she felt guilty, and I felt guilty for making her feel guilty, and it honestly wouldn't have surprised me if she felt guilty that I felt guilty that she felt guilty.

Yeah, we needed to get out of here before we both went stark raving mad. Not the room. The maze.

**Dammit, **_**this**_** one should've been called Mary Is Quite Contrary. I mean, how much more contrary can you get? XD I apologize for this one being a bit filler-ish; I've already got plans for 21 and I think it'll turn out pretty long, so I wanted to cut it off here. It should be out by Tuesday, Wednesday at the latest. Reviews are love, as always. :)**


	21. Violence Is Not the Answer

"I really am sorry."

"It's fine."

"I _am_."

"I know. I said it was fine."

"I'm really, really sorry! I don't know why I eve-"

"Mary, I swear to the gods if you don't stop apologizing I will murder you in cold blood just to get some peace and quiet."

"… Sorry."

I glared at her suspiciously, trying to figure out whether she was just messing with me or not. Her contrition seemed pretty genuine, although I was sure it wasn't her refusal to shut up that she was guilting herself about.

"Pit," Mary said matter-of-factly. I looked down, realizing just in time that there wasn't actually a floor where I'd been about to put my foot down. I jumped it, muttering to myself, turning and making sure she made it over okay too. She stumbled as she landed, and I grabbed her arm to steady her. She glared at me. "You know, Chris, for all my apologizing about pulling a knife on you, you still seem to have missed the point."

"I thought the point was not to get myself killed."

"Well, that too, but…" She trailed off, clearly trying to phrase whatever she was going to say. "Stop catching me," she finally said.

I thought for a moment, then gave her the grin that I happened to know could drive people's blood pressure through the roof. "No."

She kicked me in the shin, for about the fourth time.

"Give me a break!" I protested. "That's the first time I've done it! Last time we fell off a cliff you tried to catch _me,_ you fell as a direct result, and then you landed on me! How was that possibly my fault?"

Her eyes narrowed, and I sighed, knowing I was about to be treated to the third tirade in as many days. "I know you think this is your fault but could you _please_ try to remember that I think you're an idiot in that regard, so maybe I don't like you trying to save me constantly any more than you would if I was saving you, which I have, twice now, by the way, _and_ you refuse to promise not to get yourself killed so now I have to worry that you're going to go die and I'll think it's my fault even if you don't, _and_ I'd owe you ten times over and when I died two minutes later I'd probably end up in Tartarus." She broke off, gasping for breath.

I took a moment to digest everything she'd said. She definitely had some good points, again, but- "One and a half," I said.

Mary tilted her head, nonplussed. "One and a half what?"

"You've only saved me one and a half times. If the same monster would've killed me anyway it doesn't count twice."

She shot me a glare of pure venom, and I wondered for a moment whether she was going to try to honest-to-gods kill me. After a few seconds, though, she just rolled her eyes. "You suck, you know that?"

Chris: 2, Mary: 3. I was making progress.

After a few minutes of me gloating happily and Mary wearing a face like a miniature storm cloud, I glanced over my shoulder out of habit, just to make sure nothing was about to rip my head off. I froze, cursing softly. The tunnel ahead of us, built of good-sized blocks of some kind of beige stone, was perfectly well-lit. But no more than five feet behind us lurked what honestly looked like a solid wall of darkness. I knew perfectly well that it could have been there for the last twenty minutes, but every instinct in my body screamed at me not to turn my back on it. I took an experimental step backwards. Mary echoed the movement. I didn't actually see the darkness advance, but there still seemed to be the same distance between it and us.

"Well," Mary said, scratching her head thoughtfully, "This _is_ a conundrum." I nodded in agreement, studying the shadow in front of us. The maze was pretty dark in some places, but this was something special, even by its standards. There was something unnatural about the way the light abruptly ended a little over an arm's length ahead of me, like a black veil cast across the tunnel. And it radiated silence, which shouldn't have been possible, but it did a pretty good job of pulling it off.

The longer I stared at it, the creepier it seemed. Finally, I got up the nerve to take a step forward, curious as to whether it would mirror my movements again and recede away from me. It didn't, and now the yawning blackness began six inches from my nose.

I'd never had a problem with the dark itself. It was what came _out_ of the dark that bothered me, and this particular specimen just had a certain air to it, a feeling that if I stuck my hand in I wouldn't get it back. It was more than the lack of light; it was… well… _dark._ Tangible darkness itself.

"The whole tunnel's getting dimmer," said Mary's voice. She was a lot farther behind me than she was before. Before I could stop myself, I turned to look at her. And sure enough, turning my back on the blackness went exactly as well as I'd expected it to.

There was a terrifying roar behind me. Suddenly, the expression "discretion is the better part of valor" made perfect sense. Whatever the Hades was behind me, I wasn't stopping to argue with it. I threw myself forward instinctively, and a blast of cold air hit my back, like something big had just swung at me and missed. I didn't bother to turn. Mary was standing farther up the tunnel, staring wide-eyed over my shoulder, paralyzed by the sight of whatever was chasing me.

Great.

I grabbed her hand as I passed, yanking her after me and observing wryly that her objections to my helping her seemed to have disappeared. Not that I blamed her. Without turning, I could _sense_ the darkness coming after us, slithering around my sneakers like a solid entity. Was there even a monster behind me, or was it just that blackness? Or maybe the blackness _was_ the monster.

"Not fair," I grumbled, speeding up and pretty much dragging Mary along next to me. Couldn't darkness travel at the speed of light? Hermes' son or not, I didn't really think that a few hundred thousand miles a second was something I could pull off. Which meant that the Labyrinth was toying with us again. Which meant that-

"Uh-oh," Mary groaned when we whipped around a corner. Dead end. Uh-oh was right. But I figured that if there was a monster in the dark I'd rather get my back to the wall to fight it, and besides, there was some kind of a weird shimmer on the floor where the tunnel cut off. I glanced over my shoulder again. The black veil had caught up already, and had thrown itself back across the passage. So we were cornered, then. Great. Except…

Huh. That was strange. There was water on the floor, splashing around my sneakers as I ran through it. Getting deeper too, and fast, as I got closer to the wall. Or rather, the floor was sloping down. That would explain the shimmer, I supposed. I turned again, trying to figure out what to do. The darkness had slowed. It was creeping along the walls, billowing like smoke and trickling across the floor like oil. I gulped. This really wasn't looking promising. How in Hades was I supposed to fight something like that? What _was_ it?

I took another step back, scowling as the freezing water rose to my knees and debating drawing my sword. It couldn't hurt, I supposed, but I found it hard to believe it would have any effect.

"The tunnel goes underwater," Mary announced from behind me.

This time, I'd learned my lesson. I answered without taking my eyes off the impending blackness, flinching as it oozed along the ceiling over my head. "What are you talking about?"

"Under the water! It goes under the wall!" she replied, splashing around somewhere behind me.

Could entities of pure darkness swim, I wondered? Well, I figured we'd find out.

"Dive," I said, before turning and doing the same thing myself. As soon as I moved, the blackness crashed down silently where I'd been standing, hovering over the water like a deadly fog. I kicked toward the deeper part where Mary was, being careful not to break the surface. I didn't really know what the whatever-it-was could do to me, but I preferred not to find out.

The fog hadn't quite reached the wall yet, and a thin strip of light shone on Mary's face, scared and pale under the water. The thing's shadow already covered me completely, and a moment later the last sliver of light vanished as the darkness covered the surface. I swam toward the last place I'd seen Mary. Nothing. Where could she possibly have gone?

The water was so cold it burned, and I hated to think of the effect the bitter temperature must have had on Mary, small as she was. I already needed air, but surfacing wasn't an option. Finally, just when I was about to get truly frightened, her hair drifted against my arm. I reached for her blindly, my hand closing on her wrist, wincing when I heard her muted scream. I supposed I wouldn't have liked it much if something had grabbed _me_ in this particular situation, but I knew that was bad news. Now she had even less air than she would have, and we hadn't gotten anywhere yet.

I kicked in the vague direction of the tunnel she'd mentioned, hoping I wasn't about to crash into a wall. My eyes were open, but they might as well have been shut in the pitch-black water. I had to be past the point of the wall by now, right? Which meant that I couldn't surface even if I needed too…

I pushed the thought from my mind, swimming awkwardly as I kept my grip on her wrist. Mary was apparently a strong swimmer too, judging by how hard she was kicking me in the leg with every stroke, but I didn't want to let go of her and risk losing her in the darkness. My heart sank with every moment that the tunnel didn't end. I was already running out of breath, and after the scream, Mary had to be about to drown by now. She started thrashing desperately, and I pulled her onward grimly, wincing as the rough stone of the tunnel scraped my arms. It was getting narrower. My fingers touched the rock with every stroke. But it had to lead somewhere. Because if it didn't…

The tunnel stretched on. I kicked desperately through the freezing water, wincing every time Mary's fingernails scratched my arm. Seconds ticked by. My movements seemed agonizingly slow, and I couldn't tell whether my perception was off or the cold was starting to shut me down.

My desperate heartbeat pounded in my ears, accelerating as I ran out of air. Five seconds. Another second. Another. I needed to breathe. The jagged rocks above me scraped my back every time I lost my concentration, losing the battle with the instinct that screamed at me to go _up,_ dammit, there _had_ to be air if I went up. There wasn't. Another second. Mary wasn't fighting me anymore.

If I had been alone, I would have given in. But Mary's limp wrist in my hand forced me to fight for just one more moment. My fingers scraped the wall in front of me. Dead end. So this was it, then.

_Up. There had to be air if I went up._

I raised my head, fully expecting it to smack into a rock. It didn't. A circle of dim, grey light wavered above me, like I was at the bottom of a well. I launched myself toward it with new strength, breaking the surface a moment later and suddenly developing a newfound appreciation for air.

Well. That sure was an experience. Setting my exhaustion, panic and mortality crisis aside for the moment, I braced myself against the walls of the pit, using the last of my adrenaline to lift Mary to the surface and push her onto the brick floor. Almost immediately, she started gasping for breath, then began spitting water and curses left and right. She'd be fine. I decided to take a moment to recover before trying to pull myself out. I leaned my arms and head on the lip of the well, which was only a few inches above the surface, hoping offhandedly that I wouldn't get hypothermia from a few more seconds in the water. I couldn't see past my waist through the dark, let alone to the bottom, but I guessed that it couldn't have been more than a few feet past my shoes. Which, I thought grumpily, were going to take forever to dry out.

"I assume you don't know what _that_ was?" Mary rasped, shaking her head like a dog.

"New one on me," I said weakly, fighting the urge to close my eyes while I was still in the water. I glanced down again.

Apparently, entities of pure darkness could in fact swim.

The water had been dark before, but now it was practically opaque, black and thick as tar. I managed to hiss a particularly choice swear before something wrapped around my ankles and yanked me under again, clocking my temple solidly on the lip of the well in the process. As soon as my head was beneath the surface, I was in total, suffocating darkness. There was light in the room above, I knew, but I was completely cut off from it.

The blow to the head stunned me momentarily, but it didn't last long. It took me maybe four and a half seconds to panic completely. I struggled desperately as the thing dragged me backwards, kicking at it wildly and thrashing against the rock walls of the tunnel. There didn't seem to be anything I could do to fight it. It was what it had appeared to be at first glance: an amorphous being of darkness that apparently possessed the intent and ability to wrap itself around my ankles and drown me.

For something that did not, in the technical sense of the word, exist, the darkness was impossibly strong. Fighting it was like trying to break a band of metal. I stopped struggling for a moment, floating defeatedly in the water, knowing perfectly well that movement would only make me run out of air faster. I hadn't really gotten my breath back after the _previous_ near-drowning experience, and there was no way I could last as long this time. Not that it would really matter how long I lasted. The end result would be the same.

The Labyrinth was evil. Pure evil. The strange thing was, even though I was the one who was quite possibly about to die a remarkably horrifying death, it was Mary whom the maze was obviously trying to torment. She had said that she dreaded being alone down here more than dying herself. So the Labyrinth was killing me.

I gritted my teeth angrily, redoubling my war on the solid darkness holding me back. My lungs were already burning. I felt lightheaded and dog-tired, and I knew I was fighting a battle I couldn't win, but I figured I'd feel much better about myself in the Underworld if I literally fought it to the death.

There was a blaze of golden light ahead of me. I almost laughed. So that was true, then? I supposed that I of all people should have believed every myth and legend that came my way, seeing as one of my parents _was _one, but the bright-light-when-you-die thing still seemed a bit… sentimental.

The light grew brighter, and it occurred to me that I could see the silhouette of my arm raised in front of me. Which was probably a pretty good sign that I wasn't dead, although I would be in about ten seconds if I didn't get a move on. I couldn't feel anything wrapped around my ankles anymore. Light trumped dark, I supposed. Well, that was good enough for me. I swam toward the glow, making a ninety-degree turn upward when I got to the well and breaking through the surface again. This time, I didn't hang around. I clawed my way out and flopped onto the ground like a landed fish, soaked, shivering, and gasping for breath.

Mary stood over me, arms crossed and eyes narrowed. I winced as she took a deep breath, wondering how this could possibly be my fault.

"WHAT PART OF_ STOP ALMOST DYING _DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?" she screamed, her voice achieving a volume that shouldn't have been possible under Newtonian physics. Apparently Mary operated on the quantum level.

"The 'almost' part," I replied serenely, if a little hoarsely. "You never said anything about _almost_ dying- Hey, watch it!" I protested, rolling to the side to dodge the kick she shot at my arm. "Violence isn't the answer, you know."

"It's the solution," she giggled, her rage apparently gone. I stared at her, thoroughly confused. "Uh, never mind. I doubt you'd get it. Or at least I'd hope you wouldn't."

Some battles, I decided, just weren't worth fighting. "All right then," I sighed, climbing to my feet and scowling when my shoes made an unpleasant squelching noise. "Oh, and uh, thanks for the light. New skill from your dad, I assume?"

She smirked. "Guess so. No problem. That's two and a half now, just for the record."

"Oh, give me a break!" I objected indignantly, shaking water out of my hair. "If we're keeping track, I'm definitely winning."

"Are not."

"Am too."

"Are not."

"I'm too mature for-"

"Oh, like Hades you are."

**It was a Miss Congeniality reference, if you were wondering. Although considering that Chris already nicknamed Clarisse after the Wicked Witch of the West, maybe he **_**did**_** get it. Poor guy. Only he could get attacked by the absence of photons. (Which is what darkness technically is, which is what Chris meant when he said it didn't exist in the technical sense. I just finished exams, okay? There's just ambient nerdiness in my brain and it got transmitted to him.) What do you guys think, should he ever actually, you know, **_**win**_** a fight? Just to mix things up a little?**


	22. Ellipsoidal Logic

**Thank you guys so, so much! I think that was the most reviews I've gotten on a chapter! Plus this fic finally passed my 3-chapter crackfic for having the most reviews, which makes me SO happy you have no idea, because I hate that thing with a passion, not to mention I've put about two hundred times more effort into this one. So, thanks, I appreciate it! :D**

"So, uh, you can do that light thing pretty easily, right?" I asked nervously, throwing a wary glance at the well. If the thing could follow us into the water, I figured it could probably follow us out, too.

"Hmm, dunno really," Mary said thoughtfully. "It just came to me. Let's see." She gave her wrist a funny flip, and an instant later her hand disappeared in a crackling sheet of golden-white light. "Looks like it, yeah," she remarked a moment later as the light faded.

"Dammit, warn me next time," I complained, blinking away the sunbursts the flare had left on my vision.

"Or what, you'll sneak up behind me and shout 'Boo'?"

I considered that for a moment. "Quite possibly, yes. Or I can steal all your stuff, or-"

"What stuff, precisely, would you steal?"

I shrugged carelessly. "I'll wait until you _get_ some stuff, and _then_ I'll steal it."

She shook her head in wonder. "That was possibly the most circular logic I've heard in my life."

"You have to admit it made _some_ sense. It was like… ellipsoidal logic. Or something."

"What in Hades does that mean?"

"Aaand chalk one up for Chris," I gloated.

"I'm ten!" she pouted. "That doesn't count!"

"You play that card entirely too often, you know that?"

She shrugged. "It's a good card."

"Hmph."

The conversation carried on along pretty much the same lines until the tunnel opened into another room. By now, we'd learned better than to try and avoid the Labyrinth's obstacles; it would either corner us, make us run into the same thing until we faced it, or come up with something worse.

The room was pretty good-sized, lit with spotlights that blinded me when they pointed right at me. A lonely podium stood in the middle of the stone floor, so many lights blasting it that it didn't cast a shadow. Directly opposite it stood a monster. She was a Sphinx, crouching on a high platform and giving me a pleasant look that instantly made me nervous. Bars came down over both the tunnel we'd come in through and the one behind the monster, which definitely compounded the effect. Well, that and the skeletons lining the walls. The Sphinx resembled pretty much every teacher I'd had in my life, both in looks and mannerisms. Her expression was infuriatingly patronizing. She was definitely trying too hard in the makeup department, and her hair was yanked back brutally into that whack-you-on-the-hand-with-a-ruler kind of bun.

"Welcome, lucky contestants!" the monster said in that maniacally happy voice that never failed to grate on my nerves, makeup cracking as she smiled. "Get ready to play… ANSWER THAT RIDDLE!" Tinny applause echoed her weakly. "Fabulous prizes! Pass the test, and you get to advance! Fail, and I get to eat you! Who will be our contestant?"

"Do not _even,_" I said as Mary opened her mouth. She glared. "Look, I really do see your side here, but in all modesty, you have to admit I'm more likely to live if she attacks me."

"Time's a-wasting!" the Sphinx chirped. I stepped forward before Mary had time to object. I knew she'd kill me for it, but honestly, whatever ego I had left would have just about shriveled up and died if I couldn't manage at least one obstacle on my own.

"Welcome, Christopher Rodriguez!" said the monster, entirely too enthusiastically. I scowled at the sound of my full name, wondering how she knew it. "Are you ready for your test?"

"Sure," I said with the most maddening smile I could manage. I knew the Sphinx's riddle, but to be honest, I was pretty much trying to pick a fight with the thing. This was the kind of monster I liked fighting, the kind that could be killed with a sword, and didn't have a stinger. And I really did need an adrenaline rush that didn't end in my being half-drowned, unconscious, or poisoned.

She glared at me severely, but didn't say anything. I leaned easily on the podium, knowing that my sword was out of her line of sight, and that teachers couldn't _stand_ it when kids slouched. She coughed. I grinned.

"For your first question," the monster began, spitting the words through gritted teeth.

"First question?" I asked, interrupting her. "I thought there was just one."

She smiled the smile of teachers everywhere who think they've just ruined your day, a smug, condescending leer that made me want to slice her head off there and then. "Our standards have been raised! To pass, you must show proficiency in all twenty!"

Twenty riddles? I liked to think I wasn't a total moron, but I doubted I could answer twenty riddles. Which meant I'd be relying on brawn rather than brains to get out of here.

How terribly unfortunate.

I smiled wolfishly. The Sphinx looked slightly unnerved for a moment, but mainly a bit disappointed by my lack of dismay. "As I was saying," she said dourly as a drumroll came from a speaker over her head, "Your first riddle. What… is the capital of Bulgaria?"

I blinked, honestly thrown by the question. "Wait, what?"

"I will repeat the question," the Sphinx smirked. I scowled again. "What is the capital of Bulgaria?"

"No, I heard you, I just… Honestly, what the Hades kind of a riddle do you call _that?_"

"This test material is specifically designed to quantify proficiency in all fields of academics," the monster sniffed.

"Don't bother," Mary said exasperatedly from behind me. "They won't listen. Believe me, I've tried." Somehow, when she said "they," I didn't figure she was talking about Sphinxes.

The Sphinx didn't even look at her. "Well, young man? Do you know the answer?"

"Hmm, nope, don't think so," I said cheerfully, drawing my sword.

"Oh dear," said the monster gleefully. "It looks like you fail on the first question. Which means you'll be EATEN!"

"Ah, damn," I replied, my voice equally happy.

She lunged for the podium, six-inch-long claws raking it to smithereens, but I was already gone. I sprang backwards, throwing a warning glance at Mary. She rolled her eyes. The Sphinx swiped at me again, and I ducked easily, slicing one of her claws off with my sword and throwing her the most infuriating grin I was capable of. She growled angrily, backing off and glaring at me as we circled each other. I could beat her, I knew, but it would take some focus. No matter how quick I was, she was half-lion. She'd be at least as fast as me, if not faster. My sword wasn't as long as her legs, either, and she was much bigger and stronger. Still, I was reasonably confident that I could pull it off, and my ego really did need a boost.

"Deadly weapons are against the rules!" she hissed, sinking into a feline crouch. It took all my willpower not to reply with some kind of confident comeback. I tried to make a policy of not openly taunting my opponents, since it made it a lot less humiliating if I lost. Smiling for the sheer purpose of pissing them off didn't count.

The Sphinx pounced with a screech, flying claws-first through the air. I barely dodged the strike. She recovered impressively quickly, whirling and swiping at me again, but I was on her other side by the time she did it. The monster turned in a full circle. "Truancy!" she snarled. I bit back a comment again, slashing her flank open with my sword. She yowled, waving her claws wildly and landing a lucky blow on my arm.

I leapt back with a curse, trying to both keep my eye on the monster and see how deep the cuts were at the same time. They didn't look all that terrible, although they stung like Hades. She tried to take advantage of my distraction, lunging and forcing me back toward the edge of the room, although the wound on her leg was definitely slowing her down. My back bumped against the wall. I dodged just as she swung her claws, and they screeched across the stone, missing the back of my head by inches. I ran a few steps so that she'd let her guard down, then whirled, cutting her paw. I could have killed her right then by slicing her neck, but I couldn't bring myself to strike her human half. It was riskier, but I ducked under her wild strike, ramming my sword into the lion part of her body with all my strength. She melted into sand with a shriek, something along the lines of breaking testing protocol.

"Before you murder me," I said to Mary, holding a hand up to forestall her inevitable outburst and trying to get my breath back, "I really did think I knew what she was going to ask."

She raised an eyebrow. "Sure. You just wanted to beat a monster that people have actually heard of."

"Okay, maybe," I admitted. "But you have to admit that killing Eurynomi isn't all that satisfying."

"I don't know if that's the word I'd use," she huffed. "So you don't go to public school, do you?"

"Not since elementary," I replied, grateful for the topic change.

"Good. You'd get yourself expelled."

I smiled. "I like to think so." Mary rolled her eyes again, but let it drop.

**Just for the record, I deliberately copied some of the Sphinx's lines. Those are Riordan's, obviously. I figured it made sense that she'd say pretty much the exact same things to everyone who passed through. And presumably the Sphinx is a fast reformer and was back by the time Percy and co. fought it. A bit cheap of me, perhaps, but I thought poor Chris needed some machismo in the bank, considering… well… you know. XD**


	23. The Existential Crisis Department

**You know, I just made some very interesting observations. Number one, Drake Merwin has fangirls. Number two, you guys review in greater numbers and more enthusiastically for the chapters where something awful happens to Chris.**

**Fanfiction is a weird, weird place. XD**

The bars over the exits had lifted, and we walked from the Sphinx's room out into the tunnel. It was one of the creepier ones we'd been in so far. The ceiling was rough-hewn rock, maybe two feet about my head, and the walls were a slightly smoother version of the same. The weird thing was, it looked manmade. The corners were sharp and precise, and the smoother walls looked very deliberate. Metal pipes ran along the walls, and there were brick-lined shelves and recesses. The entire thing had an air of age to it, like it was part of the catacombs of the Colosseum. Maybe it was.

"Rodriguez? That's your last name?" Mary asked suddenly.

"What? Oh, yeah," I said, realizing with surprise that I'd never actually told her that, but the Sphinx had said it.

"Mine's Holland," she said, almost grudgingly, like she didn't really want to tell me but she felt obligated to. I nodded wordlessly as a reply, which she seemed fine with.

The tunnel got darker and grimier the farther we went. I found myself growing distinctly uneasy. It was dead silent, but I was becoming more and more convinced that we really were walking through the veins of history, and that some horrible things had happened down here.

We passed some kind of ancient machinery, like a pump, dented and decaying. Then we started coming to the cages. Latticed iron bars replaced the stone walls on either side of us. Some of the barred-off rooms had skeletons in them, mostly people, but a few that must have been lions or tigers, even an elephant. I realized with surprise that my wild guess had actually been correct. This passage had once been under the Colosseum. We were in the _hypogeum,_ the underground network that had held gladiators and animals before they were lifted into the arena to fight to the death.

I cast a sympathetic glance at a skeleton chained to a wall inside one of the cells. Maybe that guy had gotten the easy way out, one way or the other.

To my surprise, Mary's hand closed around mine. I agreed that this place was as creepy as all get-out, but honestly, this was _Mary._ As far as I could remember, she'd barely shown fear of anything since I'd met her. "You okay?" I asked. She was staring wide-eyed at the floor, biting her lip.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, I uh… yeah," she said, her voice unusually high-pitched.

"Hey, come on, you saw me with the scorpion," I replied gently. "You don't like skeletons?"

"What? Oh, I, um… Not really, no," she squeaked.

Peculiar. I supposed that skeletons weren't exactly cheerful, but they'd never seemed all that scary to me, except maybe in the existential crisis department. Then again, if I froze at the sight of a honeybee, Mary was certainly entitled to her own irrational phobia, too. She started walking steadily faster as the catacombs didn't end, until she was practically running, dragging me along after her, but I didn't stop her. Any confidence I might have gained from killing the Sphinx was knocked right back out of me. Here was another enemy I couldn't fight, one that I couldn't even understand. All I could do was let her run and hope that the Labyrinth would have mercy on us eventually, which seemed like a pretty distant possibility.

Maybe fear was contagious, but even I found myself getting a little freaked out after a while. Skeletons could be sort of creepy if you were looking for them to be. They were so obviously dead, yet so disturbingly alive at the same time. And I _swore_ they were looking at me, like the ones in the-

"Hey, wait a minute," I said, stopping short.

"What?" Mary cried. "Why'd you stop?"

"You're not afraid of skeletons. There were skeletons in the Sphinx's room and you didn't care." She stared at the ground, not answering me, but she looked like she was about to cry. "Mary, if it's not the skeletons, what is it?"

"I don't know! Just come on!" she pleaded, tugging at my arm. I sighed, but figured that if she was really that terrified I shouldn't make her stay here.

"Fine," I muttered, running after her again, "But would you _please_ tell me what you're so afraid of? Should I be ready to fight something, or what?"

"I don't know!" she wailed again. "Just… in here, there's… we need to… I don't _know!_"

I had a nasty feeling that I might know what was going on. Demigod kids usually acquired their "gifts" between about ten and thirteen if they were claimed by then, or got about half during that time and the rest whenever they were claimed, like I had. Mary had just figured out how to manipulate light, or at least create it, and she obviously had some kind of healing abilities. I considered the rest of Apollo's areas of expertise. Archery, of course, although that didn't really help because we didn't have a bow, music, which I couldn't see being all that useful, poetry, not a chance… and prophecy.

"Mary," I said softly, stopping again. "What's going to happen?"

She was almost sobbing, looking absolutely anywhere other than at me. "I don't know," she whispered.

Yet again, I found myself in one of those situations where I didn't have the first clue what to do. If she was this distressed, obviously she had at least a bit of an idea about whatever was going to happen, but she clearly didn't want to tell me. I didn't want to upset her by pressing her for information, but what if that information could prevent whatever awful thing she somehow knew about from happening? But that would be changing the future, and who knew what kind of consequences we'd face…

I decided to go for a happy medium. "Look, you don't have to tell me what you think is going to happen, but is there something we can do?"

To my surprise, she sank to the ground, hugging her knees. "Dunno. It's not… It doesn't happen here. But… somewhere close. When we move…"

I sat down gratefully. I hated to admit it, but I was exhausted. Two near-drowning experiences immediately followed by a scrap with a Sphinx were about all I could handle in an hour.

One or both of us was going to die. That was just about the only thing I could think of that would make Mary act like this. And sure, both of us had known that all along, but… I supposed it was probably worse for her. At least I could still keep some tiny shred of hope alive, that maybe I was just being pessimistic. But still, knowing that my death was imminent… and I knew it would be mine, too. If both of us died, well, there wasn't much I could do about that. But if it was only one of us, I was determined that it would be me. Even though that was exactly what Mary dreaded the most… What was the right thing to do? Every rule in the book said that I was a worthless coward if she died before I did, but somehow, dying and leaving her here seemed more like the coward's way out to me.

Well, I guess I was a coward, because I refused to watch her die.

Mary finally looked up. The instant her eyes met mine, she burst into tears again, which pretty much answered my question. At some point in the near future, Chris Rodriguez was dead.

I felt worse for her than I did for myself. I knew there was an Underworld, so what did I have to be afraid of? Dying, I supposed, would probably be terrifying and painful, and eternity would get old after a while, but it couldn't be that bad, right? I mean, it would have happened eventually anyway, wouldn't it? Although I never really redeemed myself for leaving camp, never told Clarisse I liked her, never got a quest, never stepped foot in my cabin knowing I really belonged there…

And who said I'd even get into Elysium? I couldn't really think of a time in my life when I'd done something good in and of itself. I was always trying to make up ground, make amends for whatever stupid thing I'd said or done. Even now. Honestly, I wasn't even sure I deserved Asphodel. Less than seventeen years on this planet, I thought, and look at the damage I'd done. Quite possibly gotten Mary killed, helped Kronos rise from Tartarus, and probably ruined Clarisse's summer to boot, although the last one might have been wishful thinking.

Personally, I thought Asphodel was the worse punishment. Pain sucked, but I'd take it over eternal déjà vu any day. Maybe if I spent the next few hours thinking really spiteful thoughts about the gods, I could save myself from that, at least. Although I wasn't entirely sure that disrespecting the gods was _bad,_ per se… Still, I figured it would work. Even if it wasn't a morally wrong thing to do, I was pretty sure the gods would think it was, and it was their call, wasn't it? It was sort of unnerving to think that my eternal fate could be decided, completely subjectively, on the whim of a temperamental nonhuman being, but I supposed that was just the way it was. Life wasn't fair. Why should death be?

**Yes, yes, I know. Never fear, I'm not going all AU on you. You'll see. ;)**

**Eh, I was feeling a bit uninspired on this one. Never fear, my muse will return soon enough. I hope. Reviews might help. :)**


	24. Oh Right, I'm Dead

**Heheheh. Ooh yes, I'm feeling quite excited about this fic again. Sorry in advance for this chapter also being really short.**

**I'm curious as to whether the actual Delta symbol can be uploaded to fanfiction. Let's see: ∆ (If there's nothing between the colon and this statement, it apparently doesn't work.) I figure I'd rather find out in an A/N than in the middle of a chapter. **

I was thoroughly confused for a moment when I woke up, mostly because I hadn't exactly gotten the memo that I was falling asleep. I must have been more worn out than I'd thought. Mary was leaning against the crisscross of bars that lined the passage, staring down the tunnel away from me.

Oh right, I remembered suddenly. I was dead. I briefly considered having a panic attack, but decided that the most prudent course of action would probably be not to think about it. I'd have plenty of time to later, after all. Maybe the little conundrum that was mortality could amuse me for a century or so once I was dead. Of course, I'd have no way of knowing how much time had gone by on the surface…

And I didn't know now, either. I glanced at my watch anyway, curious to know how long I'd been sleeping, and sighed when I was met with a lifeless screen. My battery had died. Somehow, I just wasn't surprised. On impulse, I took the watch off and threw it down the tunnel as hard as I could, then instantly wondered what the Hades I had done that for. Clearly, being doomed had stressed me out a bit more than I cared to admit.

Maybe I was wrong, though, I thought hopefully. Maybe we were both going to survive, and Mary was sad about something else. I hoped to the gods that she wasn't seeing her own death, but something about her reaction just seemed wrong for that. Something that happened on the surface, maybe? But no, she definitely got more upset when she looked at me.

Except, something had changed. She turned at the sound of my watch clattering off some bars farther down the tunnel, but she wasn't crying anymore. She looked nervous, but resolute, like she'd decided to take an enormous risk.

"Hey Chris?" she said evenly.

"Yeah?" I replied after a moment of hesitation, a bit suspicious of whatever she was up to.

"Promise you won't give up, okay?"

I considered it, thoroughly nonplussed. That was a strange request. And why would it matter if I gave up if I was going to die? Unless I'd been wrong, of course. In which case, what _had_ she seen?

Something was different. I couldn't hear anything, but I felt like there was something screaming just out of my range of hearing. I swore I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. Something was… off. The air felt taut and tense, the world balancing on the edge of a blade.

"Just answer me," Mary said, snapping me back into reality, although I still couldn't shake the feeling of trepidation. Her voice quiet, but intense. "_Chris,_" she hissed when I still hesitated, clenching her teeth and glaring.

"I promise," I finally said, ignoring the feeling that something was very, very wrong.

I figured out what a moment later. The charged, crackling atmosphere was suddenly gone, but the feeling of unease remained, and I realized what she had just done. Somehow, my making that promise had changed the future. She hadn't seen me dying. She had seen me giving up, and now I couldn't.

And changing the future always had consequences.

Mary bit her lip, wrinkling her eyebrows. I wondered what she saw now. Was it different? I was about to ask her, but the huge arm wrapping around my neck did a pretty good job of distracting me.

Bees were still my least favorite thing, but giants definitely came in as a close second. Where the Hades did this guy come from? My heartfelt curse was abruptly cut off as the giant yanked me upright by my throat, his other hand somehow catching both of my arms behind my back. I kicked him in the shin with my heel. He grunted, bit didn't let go, tightening his grip on my neck in a way that told me I'd get my neck broken if I tried anything. Mary's eyes widened as I struggled for breath. She jumped upright, drawing her knife.

"Drop it," the monster rasped. I scowled venomously when I realized that I was being held hostage to make a ten-year-old drop her weapon. This was definitely one of the more embarrassing moments of my life thus far.

A _dracaena_ squeezed by, grabbing my sword from its sheath and picking up the knife. Another one grabbed Mary's arm. I shot her a questioning look, trying to figure out whether I should be fighting back or not, but she shook her head warningly. The giant finally let go of my neck, but kept his hold on my wrists, shoving me through the tunnel ahead of him.

Right about then, the half of my brain that had been left miles behind finally caught up. What in Hades were these monsters doing? It was the same thing as when the other giants had first captured me outside the borders of camp. Monsters weren't exactly known for being merciful, so why hadn't the giant torn my head off as soon as he had the chance? Like last time, I had the nasty feeling that he had a pretty good reason, and that I wouldn't like that reason one bit.

"Sorry," Mary apologized from somewhere behind me. "I wasn't paying attention."

"No problem," I replied resignedly as one of the _dracaena_ hissed something that sounded vaguely like _shut up. _"You shut up," I muttered testily. None of the monsters deigned to reply, although I supposed that that hadn't exactly been the wittiest comeback I'd ever come up with.

I had no clue how they knew where we were going, but after a few turns and several minutes of getting my heels stepped on by some extremely large feet, we arrived at a pair of huge bronze double doors emblazoned with a crossed swords symbol. A muted roar came from behind them. Whatever was in there, it was probably bad news. I'd half-convinced myself that we were about to get fed to a drakon or something when one of the _dracanae_ tugged the door open, and the sound hit me full force. It wasn't a drakon. It was a crowd.

The giant slammed a heavy arm into my shoulders, sending me stumbling through the doorway. The doors slammed shut an instant later. I found myself staring up at a ring of bleachers surrounding a small arena, trying not to flinch as hundreds of monsters howled and screamed.

**Antaeus' arena. Dum dum dummm. I know this is short, but the next one might take me a while. So of course I'm leaving you at a cliffhanger, ha-ha. Anyway, if I don't update for a week or so, I promise I'm still coming back.**

**Limelemon: Probably, yes. Glad to know you like it. :) Just out of curiosity, any particular reason for that number? Something to do with 39 clues?**

**Chuoang: Thanks! To answer your question, Jason Voorhees is the villain in the horror movie **_**Friday the Thirteenth,**_** and he has a nasty habit of killing teenagers at summer camps. Poor Chris has an addiction to horror movies, and thus is more scared of Jason than he is of monsters. Because Jason can't be killed by celestial bronze, after all… ;)**


	25. Giant Fluffy Ball of Death

**Sorry for the wait. I did warn you. And track season just started, which means my update rate is probably going to suffer. And now I waited too long to update so I totally lost my mojo. :( Hopefully I'll get it back.**

I tried to look as tough as I could, staring down the jeering monsters. I was pretty sure I knew what was going to happen, and making a first impression as a frightened kid was just about the worst thing I could do. I remembered the cage-filled tunnels we'd just passed through, the ones that may well have once been underneath the Colosseum. The Labyrinth had been giving us a hint. To pass through, we'd have to fight. "We" being "me," whether Mary liked it or not, which she wouldn't.

A giant, twice my height, his blood-red skin tattooed with blue, was sitting in the balcony chomping what looked like an oversized leg of chicken. I elected not to think about where it might have come from. It took him a minute to notice me, but when he did, his face spit into an unsettlingly sharp-toothed grin.

"You finally found entertainment, I see, Throat-crusher," he bellowed. I bit back both a smile and a wince. Laistrygonian naming conventions were creative, to say the least.

"Yes, Lord Antaeus," the other giant rumbled back with an equally snaggle-toothed smile, clapping a hand on my shoulder hard enough to make me stumble.

"Wonderful!" Antaeus cried. The word sounded strange coming from him. "It's been days. But this one should fight well." I couldn't decide whether to feel pissed off or flattered. I eventually decided that "nervous" made more sense than either of them.

The Laistrygonian, still smiling, handed me my sword. I debated decapitating him on the spot, but one of the _dracaenae_ had her spear uncomfortably close to Mary's back, and I decided that might not be the smartest move. To my surprise, Mary wasn't glaring at me. She was staring at the ground, her eyes dazed and unfocused. I figured that she was probably trying to see the future again, but she'd already thrown everything off track. Whatever she saw was probably disjointed and indefinite.

"You're a demigod?" Antaeus rumbled, gesturing for me to walk into the center of the arena. I stepped forward, trying to act less hesitant than I felt. The monsters' gazes drilled into my back.

"Son of Hermes," I replied, twirling my sword and attempting to look nonchalant. Hopefully the monsters were buying the tough-guy thing. Good fighters were always the crowd's favorites in gladiatorial combat, and if and when I finally met my match, having the audience's favor might well save my life.

"Eh," the giant shrugged in response, looking vaguely disappointed. I still wasn't entirely sure how much loyalty I felt for my father, but I definitely resented that. If he thought children of Hermes couldn't fight, I intended to prove him wrong. Almost instantly, I had to.

"Round one!" Antaeus cried happily. A gate underneath his balcony opened. I fell into a fighting crouch, tightening my grip on my sword and struggling to see an opponent coming from the dark tunnel. The monsters in the stands were working themselves into a frenzy. They roared and screamed, making me even more nervous than I already was, which shouldn't have been possible. I took a deep breath, resisting the urge to glance over my shoulder and see how Mary was doing. I could do this. Right? I had no idea how many monsters I'd fought and killed since we'd entered the maze, but I knew it was a lot. This should be even easier. They couldn't sneak up on me in here, at least. But the wild bloodlust pervading the air was filling me with an awful sense of dread.

Nothing happened for a moment. Then, a split second before I let my guard down, an enormous hellhound came barreling out of the tunnel. Its red eyes glowed, canine teeth bared like it was already anticipating ripping me apart. In the two seconds I had before it flattened me, I considered how best to go about making sure it _didn't_ do that. I could take a hellhound, but it would be tricky. The fact that a monster this big was round _one_ struck me as a bit disconcerting.

I forced myself to concentrate, fully aware that this was another monster that was at least as fast as I was. I wasn't entirely sure how intelligent hellhounds were, but I figured that somewhere in the general "dog" range would probably make sense. And considering that dogs were known to do any number of essentially suicidal things in their eternal quest for food, I figured that the same principle might well apply here. I braced my feet, holding my sword up in front of me and setting all my weight behind it. It wasn't much against the giant furry ball of death currently hurtling toward me, but I hoped it would be enough.

As I'd expected, said giant furry ball of death cannoned straight into me. The impact sent me flying, but the hellhound impaled itself on my sword in the process. I tumbled across the arena floor as the monster dissolved into ashes.

"Round two!" Antaeus announced delightedly.

"Oh, come _on,_" I muttered, dusting myself off and retrieving my sword from the pile of ex-hellhound. Honestly, that was hardly fair. Didn't I at least get a breather first?

Apparently not. A Laistrygonian, even bigger than Throat-crusher, came lumbering out of the same tunnel. His club was almost as big as I was.

"So," I asked resignedly, backing away steadily. "What's your name?"

"Fat-Burner," he rasped. I blinked, then decided that this was probably one of those rare situations that couldn't be improved by me cracking a bad joke. Particularly one based on the name of the monster that was currently attempting my murder.

The giant swung his club in my general direction, missing by a mile even if I hadn't jumped back, and almost fell on his rear when the weapon's inertia jerked him to the side. Well, it was a welcome change of pace after the hellhound. I knew I could kill him pretty easily, but that wasn't my strategy.

If I really was the only "entertainment" that had stumbled into the arena in days, there was a pretty good chance I'd be fighting for a while, which meant I needed to conserve energy wherever I could. Actual combat was one of the most tiring things to do. Observing from a safe distance while a giant almost knocked himself out with his own club, on the other hand, was not.

The Laistrygonian swung at me again with an angry growl. I leaned back slightly, calculating the club's arc. Suddenly, the giant lunged forward. He slammed the weapon into my chest, catching me completely off guard and knocking me onto my back. Maybe the giant was smarter than I'd thought, or maybe he just got lucky, but one way or the other I now had a pretty serious problem on my hands.

I scrambled backwards, my hands slipping on the sandy arena floor as the giant swung his club. I didn't react quite fast enough, and it clipped my leg, but not hard enough to do much more damage than what was sure to be a spectacular bruise. In the few moments I had while he raised his mace over his head again, I rolled to the side, jumping to my feet and dodging awkwardly as he made a wild swing.

The noise of the monsters in the stands was incredibly distracting. They screamed and cheered and hissed, and I was fairly sure that a few were yelling advice to us. The Laistrygonian didn't seem to be bothered by it. He lumbered after me, red eyes narrowed. I got the distinct impression that at some point, I had made things personal.

I backpedaled away, risking a glance at Mary. She seemed to have given up on seeing the future, which sort of made sense, because no matter what was about to happen there wasn't much either of us could do about it at this point. Her face was calm, but extremely pale. I gave her a reassuring nod. She replied with the wide-eyed, _Chris-you-moron-it's-right-behind-you_ look that I'd become so well acquainted with over the past few… days? Weeks? I wasn't really sure.

I darted to the side an instant before the giant's club thudded to the ground, creating a miniature crater right where I'd been standing. On impulse, I put one foot on the end of the mace before he could lift it again. He stooped to pick it up, then paused, giving me a vaguely offended look when he realized that I was standing on it. I shrugged apologetically before slashing my sword across his neck.

The giant's head had barely hit the ground before my next opponent emerged. To my surprise, it was a single _dracaena._ Ordinarily I would have been able to beat her fairly easily, but I was already starting to get tired. I realized with dismay that there was probably a reason my opponents were getting less challenging. Antaeus had been starved of entertainment for days, which meant that he wouldn't want me fighting a monster that might well kill me. Instead, he'd keep me fighting as long as he possibly could.

I parried a trident thrust and narrowly dodged a thrown net, wondering how the Hades I was supposed to get out of this one. What could I do? If I stopped fighting, I'd get killed by whatever monster was in the arena with me. But I couldn't fight forever.

Monster after monster came out of the tunnel, none of them really dangerous enough to pose a threat to me. I never would have thought that I'd feel guilty for killing a monster, but the telekhine that came at me next was disarmingly fluffy, and the fact that it could barely hold a weapon basically made me feel like scum. Battling it wasn't so much a fight as it was an execution.

I was running out of endurance, though, to the point where I might well fall to a telekhine if my focus slipped. Mary looked increasingly worried, and Antaeus looked increasingly bored, both of which were bad signs. Another telekhine exploded into dust. Another _dracaena. _Giant. Telekhine. Giant again. _Dracaena._

How the Hades could Antaeus find this entertaining? I was a competent swordsman, but I really wasn't that great. I almost never used any kind of fancy tricks, and my fighting style wasn't unique or exciting. But still, things were dying, so I guess that was good enough for him.

I switched my sword into my left hand, feeling myself falling into that awful daze where every second lasted a lifetime and every sound seemed to come from miles away. I fought on autopilot, dedicating my conscious mind to making myself keep fighting. Because I'd promised Mary. And if I broke that promise… well, I'd get killed, and I'd thoroughly deserve it.

It felt like I had been fighting for hours. I had long since lost track of the monsters that practically leapt onto my sword. I supposed that, to them, this was just a game. They didn't really have to try. They weren't fighting for their lives. They'd reform, almost instantly in the case of some of the less powerful ones. I wondered if the monsters I was killing had actually volunteered for this. Immortality or not, a sword to the neck couldn't feel very good, could it? But they didn't seem to care. The monsters in the stands were leaning over the rails, fangs bared in bloodthirsty smiles. I half-expected them to vault over the railings and attack me themselves.

Laistrygonian. _Dracaena._ A godsdamned drakon, young enough that it was barely bigger than me. My lungs burned like a scorpion had driven its stinger into my chest. I couldn't fight anymore. Passing out didn't count as giving up, did it? I sure hoped not, because it was only a matter of time.

More monsters. Half the time I didn't even know what species I was fighting; I just slashed at whatever moved. I noticed for the first time that I was bleeding in about ten different places. I didn't particularly care.

It took me a while to register that I was on the ground again. The pain in my shoulder and the giant standing over me with a club were my only clues that I hadn't just fallen over backwards of my own accord. Déjà vu, I thought vaguely as the monster raised his mace. I just couldn't find the motivation to get out of the way.

Except, I had promised.

I rolled out of the club's path just in time, realizing with a jolt that I had just died in some alternate universe. I was _supposed_ to die. Which meant that, from now on, all bets were off.

I raised myself just high enough off the ground to stab the giant through the stomach, then collapsed back to the dusty arena floor on my face, struggling for breath. It wasn't that I was giving up. I was simply physically incapable of fighting anymore. Even opening my eyes to see what monster would kill me was more than I could manage.

I couldn't think straight. In some half-conscious twilight zone, I became hazily aware of the face that nothing appeared to be murdering me yet. I knew that that was strange for some reason, although I couldn't quite remember what that reason was.

My sword slipped from my hand as something picked me up. A whole lot of somethings were yelling. One of them stood out, though. Mary. I was still aware enough to recognize her voice, and to figure out that I probably looked like I was dead. I opened my eyes halfway, realizing that a giant was carrying me to the edge of the arena. I couldn't find the energy to get mad about it. Everything was too blurry for me to see Mary's face, but she stopped yelling as soon as I opened my eyes, so I knew she'd seen that I wasn't quite dead. Close, but not quite.

The giant dropped me unceremoniously a few seconds later. I barely noticed. I just hoped vaguely that I'd wake up again.

I almost missed Antaeus' words: "Your turn, girl."

**Hrm, this part was supposed to be longer, but I felt bad for not updating for so long and decided to split it up. Plus, of course, my narrator just conked out. Again. Doesn't have much luck, does he? Speaking of which, I apologize for any gratuitous melodrama in this chapter. I can't resist sometimes. ;)**

**So I was thinking about maybe switching to Clarisse's POV for a while, like while Chris is completely out of it. The thing is, I'm worried that telling both sides of a romance makes it seem a bit cheesy (-cough- Stephanie Meyer don't write Midnight Sun for the love of god –cough-). Not to mention the fact that I'm not really sure I want to show Chris in third person, since it would sort of skew the view of him, and I think there's some benefit to letting Clarisse remain a bit mysterious. But then again, it would be an excellent opportunity for some delightful fluff, and I just think it would be kind of interesting to see her POV during that period… I dunno, what do you guys think? Sorry for the abusively long A/N by the way.**


	26. Logical Fallacy

**Sorry. Track's fun, but takes a lot of time, like I said. Plus I had a bit of a rough week in the homework and extracurriculars department, and I couldn't quite get this to come out the way I wanted (never did, actually, just gave up after a while), so… yeah.**

**As to why Antaeus didn't make them fight each other, I figured that A., he didn't make Percy and his friends fight each other, and B., since they were traveling together, he probably assumed they'd refuse to fight. And if they didn't, well, it wouldn't be much of a fight, would it?**

Maybe if Antaeus had waited one more second, I would have been dead to the world. I honestly couldn't say whether I would have preferred that or not.

I clawed my way back to the dark surface of reality, instantly feeling suffocated by the crowd's fuzzy roar. I knew with absolute certainty that I had to stop the fight at all costs. And I was equally sure that I was completely incapable of doing so. In addition to the fact that I was unarmed, I was beyond exhausted, couldn't think straight, and was only conscious though sheer force of will.

I had never really imagined that Mary could die right in front of me. My worst fears had been that either I would lose her somehow or we'd be met with completely unbeatable odds, in which case I had intended to get killed first. The idea that she could die without being separated from me, simply because I couldn't do anything about it, hit me over the head like a Laistrygonian's club.

But there I was, watching dazedly from the ground at the arena's edge as she stepped toward the center. Her little bronze knife glittered in her hand. She didn't look at me.

I couldn't let this happen. How in Hades was I letting this happen? But even the effort of lifting my head was exhausting to the point of painful. I let my muscles go completely slack again, trying to get my breath back without coughing on the dust. Maybe if I just stayed still for a few seconds, I'd be slightly less dead, or at least recovered enough to stand up. Yeah. Sure.

For some reason, Clarisse's image popped into my head. I winced mentally at the thought of what she'd have to say to me right about now. Probably something along the lines of "you are a lazy, useless, pathetic moron," only with a lot more swearing involved. Not that she was wrong. It occurred to me that the last thing she'd said to me was something along the lines of "don't even try, jackass." Not exactly encouraging.

I knew I wouldn't achieve anything; that there was absolutely nothing I could do. But I also knew that if I didn't fight with anything at all I had left, I could never forgive myself. There was no guarantee I'd ever forgive myself even if I _did_ fight, but that wasn't really the point.

Without letting myself think about it, I rolled onto my back and sat up. And before I knew what had happened, Throat-crusher the Laistrygonian gave me a casual cuff with his arm, knocking me back to the ground. I tried to get up again. He sent me sprawling. I honestly wanted to cry from sheer, helpless fury. I was a better fighter than him. I could beat him in any other circumstances. But right now, I was so maddeningly, crushingly tired that he could knock me down without even looking at me.

Mary's opponent presented herself. She was another single _dracaena,_ armed with the typical trident and net. Realistically, I knew the monster should win. But I couldn't help thinking, Mary killed the scorpion, didn't she? She really was a good fighter. A natural. Maybe she could do this.

The crowd gasped as the _dracaena_ lunged. Mary skipped backwards in a move I was pretty sure she'd picked up from me. She slashed back gamely, narrowing her eyes and sticking her jaw out belligerently. What terrified me, though, was the small smile tugging at the corner of the monster's thin lips. She was pulling her strikes. Holding back. She wouldn't really attack until Antaeus was bored with the fight.

But he shouldn't get bored, should he? We were the only "entertainment" he had. He'd want the fight to last as long as possible.

Unless, of course, another band of Laistrygonians were to strut into the arena, dragging a guy bound in what appeared to be celestial bronze chains. Which was exactly what had just happened. He looked one or two years older than me and was dressed in a Greek toga, but seemed pretty unremarkable aside from that. Some kind of a minor god, then. I wondered how he'd ended up down here, but couldn't muster much concern for him aside from that. If I was right and he was immortal, he shouldn't need my help.

His presence had made Mary's situation ten times worse, though. Antaeus' face lit up at the sight of the new addition, making me even surer that he was some kind of immortal. Nonetheless, the guy appeared to be shaking, his eyes darting from side to side. Despite the fact that I probably looked a lot less impressive than he did at the moment, I couldn't help curling my lip. I knew for a fact that I'd at least _looked_ braver than that when they brought me in, and _I_ could die.

Antaeus' mouth curved into another toothy, gleeful smile. He glanced at me as though considering pitting me against the godling, but changed his mind when he saw that I was still on the ground. I definitely wasn't flattering myself when I thought I caught a hint of relief on the other guy's face. Really? He was scared of _me? _An immortal was scared of a half-dead demigod? I really hoped that this guy was the exception to the rule, because if he was a shining example of an Olympian, I may have given up on the war there and then.  
I almost missed the signal Antaeus flashed the _dracaena_. She gave a small bow, then turned and stalked from the ring. Meanwhile, the Laistrygonians unlocked the minor god's chains, pushing him toward the center of the arena. Toward Mary.

He wouldn't actually kill her, would he? He couldn't. She was ten. He couldn't die. What did he have to lose? The monsters would have to let him go eventually. Well, no, I supposed they didn't- a thought that gave me sudden concern for my own fate, although Mary's imminent one made me forget about it pretty much instantly- but how would killing Mary help with that? He'd either get away or he wouldn't.

I wondered whether he had any godly powers. Hermes had said that even the Olympian council couldn't influence the Labyrinth itself, but that didn't necessarily mean this guy didn't have some tricks up his sleeve. Or toga, I supposed. But it didn't matter, I told myself. He wouldn't hurt her. There was no way.

Throat-crusher loomed in the corner of my vision as I watched the guy. The god's head whipped from side to side as he stared, wide-eyed, around the arena. He looked like he was about to panic. Antaeus nodded once, and the godling seemed to notice Mary for the first time. He blinked, looking puzzled. Then a sword appeared in his hand.

My jaw dropped. I had been wrong. Again. Clearly, the immortal deity was willing to kill a tiny girl just to save himself some pain. Well, maybe a lot of pain, but still. If I'd gone through it, so could he.

But he didn't seem to have any intention of doing so. He stepped forward, still hesitant. Was he honestly scared of Mary? Had this guy ever fought in his over-long life?

The thought of grabbing my sword never even occurred to me. I staggered to my feet, determined to punch the godling in the face. I didn't even make it a step in his direction. As soon as Throat-crusher saw me move, he spun, presumably having caught onto the fact that I was a total moron who just didn't learn. By now, though, he was good and pissed off at me. I didn't even see him coming, intent on murdering an immortal despite the inherent logical fallacy.

"It's… not… your… fight… any… more," the giant growled through gritted teeth as Antaeus threw both of us a disapproving glance. I lunged forward with a snarl, ignoring him completely. Not for long. He bared his teeth angrily, hitting me across the face with his forearm hard enough to send me crashing against the wall. I slid to the ground with a hiss while Throat-crusher glared at me.

Meanwhile, the godling was stepping closer to Mary, still throwing scared glances up at the stands. Antaeus looked decidedly unimpressed. The crowd in general seemed to be paying less attention to their fight than they were to the ongoing scuffle at the edge between Throat-crusher and I, although it had long since devolved into me constantly trying to get by him while he shoved me back with increasingly powerful blows.

I caught another glimpse of the fight as I hit the ground for the twentieth time. Even Mary was giving the godling a scornful look. A flash of anger crossed his face, and he slashed his sword at her. She dodged using the same move as before, and I couldn't help grinning vindictively when she lunged in return, opening a cut down his sword arm. He gasped as the golden ichor dripped from his fingers. It wouldn't have surprised me if he had never bled before.

Throat-crusher stood over me, glaring, silently daring me to try to interfere again. He glanced at Antaeus, who was frowning warningly. Clearly, if I did anything, t he Laistrygonian would be held responsible.

The godling was gaining confidence. Mary was quite possibly a better fighter than he was, just from the tiny amount of training she'd had, but he was bigger and probably superhumanly strong to boot. He swung his sword wildly, getting a lucky shot at Mary's knife and sending it flying out of her hand. Then, to my amazement, he slashed at her again. Her eyes widened as blood dripped from the deep cut across her shoulder.

He cut her. He actually hurt her, drew blood. For the first time, the reality of it sank in. I had been unable to comprehend the fact that someone would deliberately hurt Mary, but now it was painfully clear that fear would drive anyone to do anything. I was filled with more hate than I knew I was capable of. For the first time in my life, I genuinely wanted to kill.

I charged straight toward the godling as he lunged at Mary. Throat-crusher came out of nowhere, filling my vision. He looked almost as furious as I was, gritting his jaw and balling his fists. He'd finally had it with me. I darted to the side, barely noticing him, intent on causing as much pain as physically possible to Mary's opponent.

I thought for a moment that I had finally evaded the giant. Then his hand wrapped around the back of my neck, jerking me to an abrupt halt. He yanked me backward with a growl, spinning and slamming me into the wall hard enough to knock the air out of my lungs. I groaned, disoriented and completely stunned, only held upright by the hand pressing against the top of my back. The splintery wood of the wall scraped against my jaw.

Mary screamed.

Then she screamed again, more frantically, clearly in pain.

And then she stopped.

Throat-crusher took his hand off my back. I didn't even try to prevent myself from sinking back to the ground. I didn't want to look at the center of the arena, because I knew what I would see. But I made myself look up, because I owed her that, and because I'd be haunted until the day I died if I didn't.

Mary lay at the godling's feet, her back to me. One of her braided pigtails had come undone. The dust around her was dark red. The god's sword was stained the same color.

Dead. Mary Holland was dead. Killed by a world she'd never asked for, hadn't even believed in until… whenever. More than fury or even sadness, I was filled with disbelief. He _killed _her. Killed her even though he himself couldn't die. This was what Camp Half-Blood was fighting for? This was what we prayed to and honored? This was what I was the son of?

_If I hadn't left camp._

_If I hadn't talked to her._

_If I hadn't refused to join in the first place._

_If I hadn't hit Kelli._

_If I hadn't tried to contact… Clarisse._

Even thinking about Clarisse made me feel even guiltier. How could I do that when Mary was gone? But I couldn't shove the thought of her out of my head. What would she think of me right now? How could she possibly forgive me? Did I really want to be forgiven?

**Um, sorry about that. And it didn't come out even close to how I wanted it, meh. :/**

**Oh, so about the Clarisse POV thing: the feedback seemed pretty mixed on that, so here's what I'll do: Verge will stay completely in Chris' POV, since I've been messing with Clarisse's a bit and, although it's a lot of fun, I'm not really comfortable enough with it to put it in here. However, if I come out with some random Clarisse thing that I think is kind of interesting, I'll put it in my drabble collection, so that way you only have to read that stuff if you feel like it. (And I'll add spoiler warnings so that if you want to read the drabble collection but not her POV it won't sneak up on you.) ;)**

**Also, I got nominated for a Verita! I wasn't really sure if I was allowed to advertise it, but I'm pretty sure I am, so… yeah. Voting's open now, so if you want to go vote for me that would be awesome. ****To find the Verita site, just Google "fanmortals" and any of the first few links will get you there in the end.****(I'm in the Funniest Character category, interestingly enough.) Whoever that was who nominated me, if you see this, thanks! :D**

**One last thing for this completely ridiculous A/N: I know no one will listen, but to basically anyone younger than I am, this is your final warning. Things get trippy from here on out. *****ominous laughter***** You have been warned.**


	27. Rue the Day

**This one was fun to write. :)**

Throat-crusher shot me a vaguely sympathetic glance. I nodded dumbly, staring past him. Mary– Mary's body– had me under some kind of twisted hypnotic spell, and no matter how much I wanted to, I couldn't seem to tear my gaze away. I didn't believe it was real, which scared me, because if it wasn't then nothing made sense, but it _couldn't_ be, of course, because it was Mary and Mary couldn't be dead.

_First comes denial,_ a singsong voice said in my ear.

I knew perfectly well that I hadn't lost everything. I still had plenty to fight for outside the Labyrinth. But the concept of "outside the Labyrinth" suddenly seemed unreal, and besides, it just didn't seem right somehow to keep fighting. Wasn't that sort of… what you were supposed to do when someone died? No one I'd been close to had died in years. It was one of the perks of living at a camp populated entirely by teenagers. The ones who died usually did so before anyone got to know them too well.

But now I found myself torn. I had a vague impression that I was somehow morally obligated to be stoically depressed for the rest of my life out of respect for the dead. My honest reaction, though, was a combination of fury, disbelief, and fear. I was beginning to understand Mary's dread of being alone in the Labyrinth. Before, I had perceived it as just another monster, something to be outwitted and fought off. Defended against. But now I saw it for what it was: a millennia-old, unfeeling, uncaring entity against which I had absolutely no defense. I had been captured by a creation designed for the sole purpose of utterly destroying anyone who set foot inside.

I had no chance of surviving. None at all. The Labyrinth had just proven that it was only keeping us alive until it felt like killing us, meaning that any effort of mine would serve no purpose other than possibly to amuse it. And like an idiot, I'd promised not to give up. How was I supposed to keep trying when I knew for an absolute fact that I was completely damned?

And the entire time I was thinking that, I was also beating myself up mentally for worrying about what would happen to me, because Mary was _dead_ and what the Hades was I doing thinking about my own wellbeing? But I was scared. My objective had changed from "protect" to "survive," and the sudden transition to myself as the thing that was going to get hurt if I messed up had thrown the danger into much sharper focus. I had never been protecting her, I realized. I had been protecting myself from having to go through _this_ the entire time.

My sword was pressed into my hand, shaking me out of the trance. I was surprised to find that I felt perfectly able to fight again, probably from a combination of Mary's presence– gone now– maybe some kind of a charm around the arena, and a burning desire to murder the godling holding the bloody sword.

"You're up again," Throat-crusher said, almost apologetically. I nodded, surprised to feel an unfamiliarly vicious smile steal onto my face. I'd always liked fighting, but it was about the challenge and the athleticism; I had never actually wanted to hurt my opponent. This time, I did.

_Next comes anger,_ said the voice in my head.

And the godling knew it, too. Even though I should have been the one who was scared of him, I could see him gulp from across the arena as the Laistrygonian finally stood aside, letting me fight just when it didn't really matter anymore. I stalked toward the godling. He backed away, wielding his sword uneasily. The crowd's roar had a darker tone to it now, jeering and cold, but I knew they were on my side. They wanted to see him hurt.

He finally stopped retreating, realizing that he would have to face me at some point before his back hit the wall. He was shaking. Instead of pitying him, I found myself smiling coldly. I shouldn't enjoy this, I knew. But I did. My only regret was that I couldn't kill him.

The godling's arm tensed. He was about to attack. I beat him to it, lunging with a snarl and knocking him to the ground. I could have cut him while he was on his back, but that didn't seem right no matter how angry I was. I wondered whether he'd find the guts to get up again. To my surprise, he did, although it probably had more to do with the crowd's tangible fury than any kind of courage on his part. To him, I was just the lesser of two evils.

I kept my sword lowered as he clambered to his feet, silently daring him to attack. He seemed less than eager to do so. I shrugged and lunged again, knocking his sword out of his hand with a savage strike and giving him a shallow cut across his chest in the same movement. His yell was drowned out by the crowd's.

I was giving them exactly what they wanted, I realized. Yes, this godling killed her, but he did it out of cowardice, not bloodlust. Which was worse? It was the arena that killed her, really. And I was letting myself become part of it.

I didn't know what the right thing to do was. I didn't even know if I wanted to do the right thing. What would happen if I refused to hurt him? And since he couldn't be killed, what would happen if I didn't? What would Mary want?

Mary would want me to survive. Surviving meant getting out of the arena. Getting out of the arena meant winning this fight, which meant… what? I couldn't kill him. How was I supposed to defeat an immortal opponent?

Why, by beating the Hades out of him, I realized darkly with a rush of remorseless delight. The tiny part of me that wasn't entirely okay with this was effectively flattened by the ninety-nine percent of me that wanted blood. Or ichor. Whatever.

I considered my opponent for a moment as we exchanged blows. He was about my height, with a slightly heavier build, and would have had that godly air about him if he hadn't been scared out of his wits. I wondered again how he'd managed to get caught down here in the first place. My main concern, though, was how to take him entirely out of commission. I didn't really see what I could do as far as my sword was concerned, but… could gods get knocked out, I wondered? I decided to find out.

The god's expression, somewhere between fury and panic, changed to confusion when I switched my sword into my left hand. He probably thought I was trying to pull some kind of Princess Bride maneuver. So he was pretty surprised when I drew my arm back and punched him in the jaw as hard as I could. Which, if I did say so myself, was pretty damn hard. He stumbled backward a few steps before toppling over. Not knocked out, but it was a start, I thought with a mental shrug and a satisfied smirk.

Clarisse's philosophy on life made a lot more sense to me all of the sudden. Maybe it wasn't entirely this guy's fault that Mary was dead, but that didn't change the fact that fighting him made me feel a whole lot better. And was it really my fault if I won? Honestly, as far as I was concerned, the world could go to Hades and the whole concept of morality could go screw. I just wanted to hit something, and I had a brilliant excuse to do so.

The crowd's screams dragged the godling to his feet again. I watched impassively as he gingerly touched his jaw, wincing as he did so. The funny thing was, that was the first time I'd actually punched someone with all my strength. Sure, I'd gotten in fights before, but I only hit hard enough to teach whoever it was a lesson. I had always made sure not to do any real damage. But when I was fighting an immortal, I didn't really have to worry about that.

He swung his sword clumsily. I ducked it, slamming my shoulder into his chest on my way back up and sending him staggering. By some miracle, he managed to stay upright. I scowled and decked him again. Down he went. Much better, I thought with a smug smile, which was promptly wiped off my face when he jumped up and punched me right back. And maybe he'd never hit anyone before, but apparently being immortal gave him the ability to punch pretty damn hard. I swore venomously, narrowly dodging a second swing.

So now he was mad at me. Well, good. Fights were no fun if your opponent never hit back. And besides, I had to admit that I preferred a fistfight to a swordfight. The stakes were lower, for me at least, and it was a lot more satisfying somehow. I wondered offhandedly how the crowd felt about the fact that what was supposed to be a swordfight had turned into an all-out brawl. Funnily enough, they seemed to be pretty okay with it.

The godling hit the ground yet again. This time, it was a few seconds before he clambered to his feet. He glared at me, which was made somewhat less impressive by his rapidly blackening right eye, but considerably more impressive by the fact that he had a sword at my throat.

Oh. Swords. Right. I had sort of forgotten about those. I still had mine, but it was in my left hand, and I'd be dead long before I could swing it. His had been on the ground somewhere the last time I'd seen it. Clearly, he had found it when he fell. And now I was completely screwed.

"Drop your sword," he smirked. I realized that it was the first time he had spoken. His eyes glinted triumphantly when I obeyed. He grinned, raising his blade slightly and forcing my chin up, leaning forward and setting me off balance. I gulped, then swore mentally when the tiny movement drew blood. I remembered resolving not to make that mistake again the last time I had found myself with something sharp against my neck. Which was, of course, the time when Mary had threatened me. The memory was almost funny now. And the thought of her made me realize that if the godling had been capable of murdering Mary, who had barely done anything to him, I'd be an idiot if I expected him to have any mercy on me. He wasn't going to spare me if I didn't try to fight; he was just playing with me until he decided to kill me.

The godling lunged just as I threw myself backwards, the tip of his sword making another small cut on my throat, but it was still an improvement on taking a blade through the neck. He dove after me with a savage growl, clearly expecting me to lose my balance and fall on my back, but somehow, I managed to catch myself. I pressed the tiny advantage, dodging around his sword before he realized what was happening.

It occurred to me that I had absolutely no plan in mind besides not getting stabbed. I decided to completely abandon any semblance of subtlety, electing instead to run straight into him. Unsurprisingly, it wasn't a move he had been anticipating, and he tumbled onto the ground yet again.

The time for sportsmanship, I concluded, was over. I kicked him in the side to keep him occupied for a few seconds, then dove for my sword while he groaned and curled into a ball. Another kick aimed at his weapon sent it skittering out of his hand. I jammed the tip of my sword under his chin.

Now what? I couldn't kill him, but I didn't really know how I could beat him any more decisively. I glanced in Antaeus' direction, being careful to keep an eye on the godling, but his eyes were still squeezed shut with pain. I didn't figure he'd be attacking me anytime soon.

Antaeus looked at me expectantly, giving me a slight nod when he caught my gaze. I tilted my head, confused. What did he want me to do? He only nodded again, wrinkling his eyebrows like he couldn't figure out why I was puzzled. He _did_ know my opponent was an immortal, right? He had to. So what was I supposed to do? Slash his throat anyway? It seemed ludicrous, but it also seemed to be true.

I looked down at the godling again. He wouldn't die, even if I did it. He would have killed me. He killed Mary. But I couldn't shake the feeling that if I was capable of this, I was capable of murder. Maybe he was immortal, but that didn't change the fact that I would be cutting a guy's throat.

I had to do it to get out of the arena. Mary would want me to get out… but she would be disgusted if I did this. Wouldn't she? Maybe not. She had pulled a knife on me when I'd almost gotten _myself_ killed, hadn't she? If our places had been switched, what would she have done to someone who killed me? If it meant saving her own life, wouldn't I want her to do this? So why did I feel like I'd be a son of a bitch if I did?

Do it or die, I realized. It was simple, really. I didn't want to die. So I gritted my teeth and stabbed the godling through the throat.

Golden ichor soaked into the red-stained sand. The godling clawed at the ground, writhing in obvious agony, his eyes wide with pain and fear. Somehow, his gaze found me. I stepped back, breathing hard and feeling like I was about to collapse. At least he couldn't scream. I doubted I could have handled that.

Once again, I found myself held prisoner by morbid fascination. I couldn't look away, even though every drop of immortal blood that soaked into the dust promised me that I would pay. I didn't kill him, I thought desperately. He couldn't die. He was a murderer. It wasn't murder if he couldn't die. I wondered what I would have done if he _had_ been mortal, then shoved the thought from my mind before I could answer it. I didn't want to know.

Antaeus smiled, satisfied. A door opened underneath the stands. I ran away like Death itself was after me.

**Hurrah! More death and destruction! But honestly, you know you wanted that guy… well, not dead I suppose, but stabbed through the throat is close enough, no? Oh, and I actually found the link to the Veritas site this time, seeing as my directions last time probably weren't particularly helpful. So, as if one vote-whoring wasn't enough, here's another one! Lucky you! Anyway, here's the link: http:/fanmortals(dot)webs(dot)com/votingfc(dot)htm**

**So please, help inflate my already-excessive ego. My birthday was Saturday! It can be a late birthday present! *winning smile***


	28. Drama King

**Sorry, I know the gaps between updates are getting longer. I'm working on something original for once (gasp!) and obviously that's taking up some of my spare time. I'm not abandoning this, of course, it's just going to take me (even) longer to update. Oh, and thanks to anyone who voted for me for the Verita! I didn't end up winning, but I still really appreciate being nominated, so thanks again to whomever that was.**

**Hurrah, it's psycho time! Happy dance!**

It was the silence that got to me. I had gotten used to her constant chatter, interrogating me about camp, harassing me about Clarisse, telling me off every time I stopped a monster from ripping her head off… but now it was just me. I was honestly tempted to start talking to myself, but I was pretty sure that was the first sign of madness. I preferred not to tempt fate, even though fate seemed pretty convinced that I had a Kick Me sign on my back.

The tunnel was getting darker. Again. I sighed, wondering what the Hades it was up to this time.

On top of everything, I felt incredibly guilty about the fact that I wasn't crying or doing much of anything, really. Did my brain process grief wrong or something? I wasn't so much sad as I was stressed out, like something was just fundamentally _wrong_ with the world. Which, I supposed, was true. I felt like I'd been imagining her the whole time. But one way or the other, she was gone now.

I got the distinct feeling that the Labyrinth was only getting started with me. Like Mary's death had been its declaration of war. Now the maze was waking up. Things were going to get much, much worse, and whatever happened, I'd be facing it alone.

"Bargaining comes next, not depression!"

I jumped at least a foot in the air, whirling and pointing my sword in the direction the voice had come from. It had sounded as though whoever was speaking was right behind me, but there was definitely no one there. I blinked, wondering if I'd hit my head or something.

"You're supposed to plead to the gods to get her back, don't you know that? But instead you've got a face like your puppy just died… ooh, too soon?"

"What the-" I muttered, spinning in the other direction. Nothing.

"Boo," said a voice in my ear.

"Oh, come on!" I yelled angrily, jamming my sword back into its sheath. It was a ghost; it had to be. And a royally obnoxious one at that.

"Temper, temper," chided the spirit that drifted through the air, circling me lazily. "It's your own fault. You're not doing it right."

The spirit was tall and skinny, with a thin goatee and a king's crown and robe. He had the kind of face that meant bad news, and I got the uneasy feeling that he was capable of much more than the pettiness he was displaying now.

I took a deep breath, already pretty sure that we weren't going to get along particularly well. "Doing _what_ right?" I asked resignedly.

"Being sad, of course. There's a very precise methodology. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance," he said smugly, counting off on translucent fingers. "You skipped one."

"Oh," I said after a moment, completely at a loss. "Uh… sorry?" I felt like I should have been angry, but I was way too confused to muster up any real rage.

"Hmm." The ghost stroked his goatee, raising an eyebrow. "No you're not."

"I…" I trailed off, thoroughly lost. "About being sad wrong, you mean? I, uh… Are you the spirit of grief or something?"

"I am not a spirit!" he barked, suddenly right in my face. "I'm a ghost. King Minos, to be exact. Lord of Crete."

"Good for you," I said weakly, fully aware that it was a bad idea but unable to find the willpower to stop myself. His eyes narrowed, and I sighed mentally, wondering what kind of mess I'd gotten myself into this time.

"This is my maze, you know," Minos said, his voice sinking to a theatrically ominous whisper.

Did that mean he could control it? Because if he could, I was screwed. Somehow I doubted it, though. Minos hadn't built the maze; Daedalus had. Maybe it technically belonged to Minos, but I was pretty sure verbal harassment was the worst he could do. I decided to keep my mouth shut for once, wondering where he was going with this.

"And you're an intruder." Ah. There it was. "And so was she."

I glanced up, taken by surprise. Minos' lips curved into a predatory smile, even though he must have known already that Mary was my Achilles heel. "So how _did_ she end up down here? Who would ever let a little girl go into a place like this?"

"Look," I growled. "I don't know what you-"

"Oh, right. You."

I glared at the ghost wordlessly, wondering what the Hades had gotten him so bent out of shape. "I didn't _let_ her."

"It was your fault and you know it," Minos said softly. "You didn't ask what was wrong when she saw the future, you didn't win your first fight in the arena, you didn't stop her from being killed…"

I bit my lip. Had he been following us the whole time? What did we do to him in the first place? And how was I supposed to reply to that?

Oh, right.

"Tell me, Minos," I said thoughtfully after a moment. "Do your daughters still love you?"

His face twisted with rage. I knew that I had just made a potentially powerful enemy, but I didn't regret it at all. Maybe I couldn't hurt him, but I didn't really see how he could hurt me. I wondered if he would try to punch me or something.

"Murderer," he spat.

"No more than you are," I shot back.

Alarmingly, he smiled. "Yes, I am. Do you know how many have gotten lost in this maze? Mortal, god, and half-blood?" I didn't reply. "I don't either. I've lost track. But count how many skeletons you pass." His form faded, leaving me alone again in the dim tunnel.

"Drama king," I muttered to the empty hallway. But as much as I hated to admit it, the encounter with Minos had freaked me out. I had a nasty feeling that I hadn't seen the last of him.

I kept walking down the tunnel, wincing as Mary's scream replayed in my head every four seconds. I knew I would never forget it. Then again, I would have felt awful if I ever did.

I stopped when a dim shape in front of me suddenly came into focus. There was a little table sitting in the middle of the tunnel. It was delicate and elegant, made of dark, polished wood, so spectacularly out of place that I instinctively glanced over my shoulder. Nothing tried to kill me, which was almost unusual in and of itself. I took a step forward, narrowing my eyes when I noticed a mirror on the table. I was ninety percent sure it hadn't been there the first time I'd looked. I took another wary step, wondering whether I was imagining the entire surreal situation. The smooth wood felt real enough under my fingers.

I turned my attention to the mirror. It was a small, rectangular thing, propped up in what looked like a picture frame. All that it reflected was the dark rock of the tunnel's wall somewhere off to my left. I leaned down to bring my face into the frame, ignoring the sneaking feeling that it was a bad idea.

My reflection's eyes were pure, flat black. I jumped back with a startled yell, whirling, irrationally expecting to find myself facing an evil, silent clone of myself. The tunnel was empty. I turned slowly back to the mirror, this time anticipating my reflection crawling out of it.

Scared brown eyes stared back at me. I took a deep, shaky breath, my heart pounding, suddenly feeling extremely stupid. Had I imagined this too? It had certainly felt real. And now I was scared to take my eyes off the mirror, afraid that the dark version of my reflection would return if I did. I closed my eyes and swung my sword in the mirror's direction, flinching as tiny shards of glass nicked my skin.

When I opened my eyes, there was no sign that the mirror had ever been there. The table sat spindly and silent as ever, but no glass littered the floor. I gave up after a moment of trying to figure out what had just happened. Either the Labyrinth was messing with me or I was losing my mind, and I didn't really see what I could do about it either way.

I set off down the tunnel again, walking at first, then running, constantly fighting myself over whether or not I should look behind me. Fantastic. Now I had _two_ nightmares to keep me up next time I tried to sleep.

**If you don't think that would be creepy, go Google image "black sclera." Seriously, do it. Creepiest. Effing. Thing. And if this one read like a drug trip... well... you know.  
**


	29. Touché

**Sorry. Again. And I'm in an impressively awful mood as I'm writing this, not to mention the fact that I'm exhausted, so if it seems like I'm using Chris as a punching bag… it's because I am. :D**

**Ten internets to anyone who can call the Poe reference.**

I couldn't shake the feeling that something was watching me. Like some deadly spirit of the maze itself was bearing down on me, always tempting me to turn. It wouldn't let me relax. Every time I tried to sleep, or even let my guard down, the tunnel turned pitch black, or it began to collapse, or I'd hear an echoing scream that sounded way too familiar to be real. The worst part was, I had no idea whether it was all in my head or not. The maze was evil, I knew that, but I'd proven that I was no saint myself.

I decapitated a Eurynomus with a snarl and multiple times more force than was strictly necessary, half-hoping that another one would come after me just to give me a chance to vent. I was tempted to let one get the jump on me. It would be a good fight, and I needed that. Not to mention the fact that, who knew? Maybe it would win.

But that attitude was giving up, and of course I couldn't do that.

With the Eurynomus gone, I realized that the Labyrinth was absolutely silent. I'd never noticed it doing that before. There was a constant bass rumble through the walls, and usually the howl of monsters in the distance, but for whatever reason, it had decided I needed to be as cut off from the world as was humanly possible. I didn't know why it bothered me so much, but it did.

I swung my sword at the wall. I had no idea why, but I couldn't stop myself. Sparks flew, and I realized a split second later what I moron I had been. What would I have done if my sword had broken?

Died, I supposed. Without giving up.

I slashed at the wall again and again. My sword didn't break. I raised it over my shoulder and threw it down the tunnel with all my strength, watching impassively as it clanged against a wall and skittered along the floor.

"My, my, you _are _losing it."

I tensed, not turning. I knew what I would see. Who I would see.

"That's quite pathetic, you know," Minos said lazily. "How long have you been down here? I've seen heroes last _far_ longer than that. Of course, they were stronger than you, I suppose."

I took a deep breath, rubbing my temples and struggling to get my temper under control. Minos couldn't bother me, not that easily, but the Labyrinth itself already had me on the verge of breakdown. If I lost it, Minos would claim the kill, and my pride couldn't allow that.

"Shut up."

"Ooh."

"Idiot."

Minos' eyes narrowed. I got the distinct feeling that my reaction wasn't the type he was used to. Now he'd be even more determined to destroy me. Well, let him try. Hades, he'd probably succeed. I didn't care. I intended to give as good as I got.

"It's a good thing the sword hit where it did," the ghost mused thoughtfully. "A little lower, and it would have hit her stomach. Probably would've taken her a good ten minutes to die. Incredibly painful, though," he finished with a grin.

I shrugged noncommittally, cold fury rushing through me. "Probably not as bad as being scalded to death."

"Do you suppose she ended up in Elysium? I'm not so sure. She was a traitor, after all. Like you."

"So how are Pareia's sons these days? Sure is a shame that Hercules killed-"

There was a blur of movement. I yelped, clapping a hand to the shallow cut on my face and staring at Minos in shock. He glared back, running his fingers pointedly along the severed scorpion stinger that he had just cut me with.

He's a _ghost_, I though desperately, wincing as pain coursed through me. He shouldn't be able to do that. But clearly, he could.

"Hercules was a coward," Minos hissed. "My sons were worthy. But like all half-bloods, he was arrogant and temperamental and killed them because they didn't worship the ground he walked on."

I considered that for a moment. "Um, aren't _you_ a half-blood? Son of Zeus? Hercules' half brother? More closely related to him than I am?"

Minos thought about that for a moment, then decided that slashing at me with the stinger would be the best response.

"Touché," I muttered through gritted teeth.

Minos vanished again with a furious scowl, leaving me in no doubt that I hadn't seen the last of him. I set off down the tunnel resignedly, tracking down my sword and gingerly feeling the slashes across my face. Thankfully, they weren't deep enough to be as agonizing as the ones inflicted by the actual scorpion, but they still hurt like Hades.

I sank to the ground for lack of anything more productive to do, and because I was beyond exhausted and probably would have passed out if I didn't. For the first time in gods-only-knew-how-long, I actually managed to fall asleep. And I was instantly plagued by nightmares.

Of _course._

Mary's scream. Mary dying. Clarisse dying, camp being destroyed, the darkness drowning me, Antaeus laughing– they all blended together in a dark kaleidoscope, whirling around me until I felt whipped raw. And in all of them I was trapped, always helpless while everything I cared about was destroyed.

Just like now. Kronos was rising, and I was down here, useless and slowly falling apart, because just like Minos said, I was too weak to hold it together. I was a pathetic little kid, scared of the dark and scared of monsters, scared of dying, scared of pain and silence and being alone, and the godsdamned Labyrinth _knew_ it.

I stood up suddenly and sprinted down the tunnel. As usual, I had no idea what the Hades I was doing, but running felt good. The walls of the tunnel blurred by. For a few moments I could almost convince myself that I'd get out of here somehow. Almost.

Then the tunnel ended in a wall of black marble. I noticed for the first time that even though the ceiling was still high above my head, somewhere in the darkness, the walls had closed in so much that they brushed my shoulders. It was getting darker. It was always getting darker. But it got me every time. I turned, but the black emptiness and black stone walls were one and the same. My fingers brushed cold rock when I reached out. Everywhere I touched was rock. I could feel my breathing speeding up. I couldn't be entombed. It was ridiculous. I had just run in, hadn't I? But this was the Labyrinth. It didn't matter what I had done.

I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs. The only thing that stopped me was the thought of Minos watching somehow, smiling that smug little smirk. But I was close to it. I punched the rock as hard as I could, fully aware that I was going to break my hand. I did. I barely noticed as at least one bone cracked. I just couldn't bring myself to care. What did it matter if I could use my sword or not? I was completely at the Labyrinth's mercy, and it had obviously chosen to torture me.

I was furious at Mary for making me make that promise. If not for that, I wouldn't have been condemned to this. She had taken my only escape and twisted it so that if I took it, I would be faced with the one thing worse than the Labyrinth.

Even the option of death was gone. I was completely, utterly trapped.

I slid to the ground, pulling my knees up to my chest and wondering vaguely just how small the chamber was. It only took a moment for me to draw near panic over the fact that it could be the size of a godsdamned coffin, for all I knew. I clambered to my feet again and set off along the perimeter, brushing my fingers against the smooth wall.

It only took three full steps before my hand- the one that wasn't broken- hit another wall at a right angle to the one I had just walked. So my prison's dimensions were less than my height. I took a deep breath, once again resorting to the thought of Minos to keep myself from panicking.

I took a step back. Half of one of my feet landed on empty space. I froze, carefully moving it onto solid ground and wondering if the well in the floor had been there the whole time. I crouched warily, running my hand along the floor and finding where the pit began. I could smell the difference in the air coming up from it, damp and a bit warmer. There was something else too, something vaguely familiar, like… rust? Oil? It wasn't particularly comforting, but the pitch-black well carried the promise of some form of escape. Without another thought, I threw myself into it.

Instantly, the darkness gave way to dim, flickering greenish light. I caught a glimpse of a huge room, completely filled with water, before I hit the surface with an enormous splash and my world was suddenly pitch black again. Muted clangs echoed through the water.

I kicked up to the surface as fast as I could. A dirty cement wall was right next to me, but it was the only one that I could see. The ceiling, also cement, was less than a foot above my head, which I didn't particularly appreciate. Flickering fluorescent lights lit the room halfheartedly, casting the eerie green shade over everything as they reflected off the water. Rusty pipes were everywhere. They snaked along the ceiling, forming pillars from the ceiling to the floor, and lurked just under the surface of the water. Unnatural noises came from them, like a colony of rats was living inside. The water itself came up to my chest, but like the water in the well, I could barely see a foot into it. Its surface had a nasty, oily sheen to it. There was a sort of haze over everything. It wasn't so thick that I could barely see, but it was impossible to make anything out more than a hundred feet or so away.

I realized that I was shaking. I pulled myself onto a pipe just above the surface of the water, gritting my teeth and already regretting punching the wall, just like I should have known I would. Even though I was leaning down, my head brushed the ceiling. I forced myself to take a few unsteady breaths.

What was _happening_ to me? I had never panicked like that before. But the Labyrinth was driving me insane, playing every fear I had until it drove me to the breaking point, and I was helpless to fight back. At least, I thought hopefully, no one would ever know if I broke. I could start sobbing like a little girl and no one would see.

Except Minos. His sheer presence forced me to keep it together, and that, more than anything else, would probably be my downfall. I couldn't handle this. Not without screaming at the top of my lungs just to make myself feel a little saner. But of course, the Labyrinth had found a way to make me feel completely alone, but still under scrutiny, because it was a godsdamned death trap built by a sadist, whom I fully intended to murder in the most gruesome way possible.

If I ever got out of here. Which, of course, I wouldn't.

I jumped into the water again and started slogging through it, for no reason other than because I was completely exhausted, again, and falling asleep on a pipe surrounded by water wouldn't be the smartest thing I'd ever done. Which was saying something. Also, I tended to think less when I was moving. Thinking, I was beginning to notice, wasn't a very healthy thing for me to do.

A distant sound made me freeze, turning slowly in the direction I thought it had come from. I could have sworn that I had just heard a splash. But there was only the constant chorus of indistinct clangs now, and the quiet sounds of the water hitting the pipes. I took another cautious step.

_Splash._

My heart began to speed up again. Some tiny corner of my brain wondered exasperatedly whether I'd spent more time in a state of total panic than not within the last hour or so. I glanced around, looking for a pipe to climb onto. But of course, the Labyrinth being the Labyrinth, the only ones within twenty feet of me ran along the ceiling.

_Splash._ Closer this time.

I gulped and took a step away, realizing instantly that I could never hope to escape whatever it was in the water. Trapped. As usual. And I knew, knew for an absolute fact that whatever it was was going to try to drown me, simply because the thought of it absolutely terrified me.

_Splash._ The sound was less than thirty feet away.

Logic be damned. I grabbed one of the pipes and swung the rest of my body out of the water, gripping it with my feet as best I could, although the fact that my shoes were soaking wet wasn't really helping. My right hand blazed with pain, forcing me to let go and hold myself up with my left. The maze had gone silent once again. The skitterings and clangs from the pipe were gone, leaving me alone with with the slow slosh of water against the pipes and my own ragged breathing.

The water beneath me was dark and still, murky waves undulating bleakly. I shifted my grip on the pipe, wincing as a sharp rivet edge pricked my finger. Still nothing in the water. I started to feel like an idiot again, hanging upside down from a pipe like a stupid monkey. But I _knew_ that I had heard something. There had to be something in the water.

The problem was, I couldn't hold on like this forever. I could only support myself with one arm, and it was already starting to get tired. Sleep deprivation and a drawn-out adrenaline rush had sapped my strength. There was no way I could pull this off for more than a few minutes. And I knew that, for as long as I held on, I would be left to ponder what awaited me in the water below.

Black eyes. Scorpions. The darkness again. Mary, dead and rotting. Clarisse. Both waiting to drown me, or poison me, or rip me apart…

I couldn't think anymore. I let go.

There was a beat of silence before my back hit the water, then I was plunged into the gloom once again.

It was dark, like I knew it would be. But I could see the light above me. Maybe, just this once, the Labyrinth was…

Something sharp slashed across my face, sending me reeling. Something twisted itself around my ankles. And an awful scream, muted, but still full of agony, tore through the water.

A rope, both rough and slimy at the same time, twined around my wrists and my neck. Another scream. It was familiar. More than familiar. It was everyone I knew and cared about, dead or alive, and somehow the scream was all my fault.

I couldn't breath. I wanted to scream. I did scream.

I had no more air. I couldn't stop myself from inhaling water, writhing as it burned my throat. Whatever had me didn't let me go. I struggled instinctively, knowing that it was hopeless. The Labyrinth was through with me. This was how it had chosen to break me and kill me at the same time.

Everything went black.

***innocent smile* You know something? I'm in a much better mood now. And lots of reviews will improve it even more, I bet.**

**Oh, and Ana, it blocked your email address. Try replacing the dots with the word "dot." But to answer your question, sure, go right ahead! That would be awesome, thanks! :D**


	30. You Still Look Like A Hobo

**It was _The Pit and the Pendulum_, if anyone was wondering. There's something Poe-esque in this one, too.**

**Sigh. FF is italicizing random things. Ignore it, please.**

The maze still wouldn't just kill me.

I knew I wasn't in the Underworld, even though I'd been positive I felt myself drowning, because there was a rock digging into my cheek. As far as I knew, that kind of thing didn't happen in the afterlife. At least I hoped not.

A vertical horizon of algae-covered, unpleasantly jagged rocks greeted me when I opened my eyes. Even more disappointing was the wall of damp concrete behind them. I was still in the same room. I swiped my fingertips across my face, cursing when they came away bloody. I supposed it was reassuring to know that I hadn't imagined the entire ordeal, but it also meant that there was definitely something I wasn't willing to tangle with lurking in the water.

I sat up groggily, shaking water out of my hair and rubbing my collarbone where a rock had bruised it. I decided not to think about how I had ended up there, figuring my psyche had taken enough abuse without me deliberately inflicting it.

The rocks I was sitting on covered an area that extended maybe six feet from the corner of the water-filled room, and they barely rose above the surface. The room seemed hotter and more humid than it had before, the air oil-tainted and stifling. I glanced around reflexively for Mary.

No, I remembered a moment later. Mary was dead.

I stood up and instantly felt dizzy, barely managing to catch myself on the wall when my vision faded for a moment. I shook my head again and ran a hand through my hair, wondering what the Hades to do.

A tiny movement in my peripheral vision caught my eye. I whipped toward it. Moldy concrete. A rustling sound from behind me made me groan.

"Minos," I growled, expecting a snicker. All I got was another rustle. Even though I knew perfectly well that it had to be Minos, my hand crept toward my sword. There couldn't be more than a few feet between my back and the wall. What could possibly be behind me? I was fully aware that I was playing right into the Labyrinth's game, as usual, but I turned.

There was a body behind me. Or at least what a body would have looked like if it had been left to rot underwater for weeks, what was left of its flesh black and dripping. Blank eye sockets stared straight through me from inches away from my face.

I froze, my breath catching in my throat. It couldn't be real. And even if I wasn't imagining it, it was only a body, I told myself. An inanimate object. It couldn't hurt me. But as I stared at it in terrified fascination, I knew with an awful certainty that there was some shred of life in it.

I took a stumbling step backwards. The corpse's hand shot out. I yelped as it closed around my neck in a frighteningly strong grip and grabbed its bony wrist reflexively, shuddering at the feeling of the slimy fingers around my throat. It never occurred to me to go for my sword.

The thing's face was completely still, empty black sockets still staring at me, but its fingers grew tighter and tighter. Somehow, the corpse's decaying bones were stronger than I was. I couldn't breathe. Something was laughing, and I thought it might be the maze. I closed my eyes, unable to meet the thing's gaze. I couldn't find the strength to fight it. I couldn't fight it at all.

And then suddenly it was gone, and I was thrown headfirst into a nightmare.

I had no idea whether I had just woken up or fallen asleep or neither. But I was still in the maze. It was alive, its laughter reverberating through me. I ran, but of course the tunnels never ended, just twisted and turned and doubled back into monster-infested dead ends. Every monster I saw was killing Mary. She turned to look at me. Her eyes were black. She was right in front of me, reaching for my throat.

Then I was in freefall, tumbling through cold, empty darkness. I fell farther and farther, feeling myself falling to pieces until there was almost nothing left, just some terrified, fading shell.

A bolt of purple energy shot from the nothingness. It wrapped around me, catching me and pulling me upwards. Something white-hot slashed through my consciousness, illuminating every thought and memory that I thought had faded to nothing. I sensed something scrutinizing my mind, combing through and judging every aspect of my being. I knew without trying that it wasn't anything I could hope to fight against.

It was like breaking through the surface after staying underwater for a split second less than I could hold my breath. Relief, but accompanied by the sense that I had been an inch from utter destruction. Everything snapped into focus, things that I realized had been there all along, but only now made sense. Things like Clarisse La Rue, who was leaning over me. And she looked...

... Smug.

I took a deep breath, closing my eyes against the white sunlight beaming through the curtained window and letting my head sink into the pillow. I felt completely overwhelmed, fragile and fractured and still balanced on the edge of sanity. So I was at camp, somehow. I'd lost my mind. And that was assuming that I wasn't still insane and this wasn't a continuation of it, but somehow I doubted that. Clearly, my subconscious preferred for me to get strangled by rotting corpses, not murdered by Clarisse. Assuming that that part had even been my imagination. I would never know, I realized.

"Christopher?" Chiron's voice said softly. "Do you feel... sane?"

"How the Hades should I know?" I snapped irritably. I felt guilty for it pretty much instantly, but I wanted him to leave. Dionysus, too. I felt like the world had tripled in size, leaving me small and vulnerable, and the fact that the three of them were surrounding me wasn't helping. I tried to sit up, and Clarisse and Chiron immediately pushed me back down. Dionysus muttered something and turned away, but Chiron shoved a piece of ambrosia in my direction.

"You haven't eaten in almost a week," he said.

"I– What?" I mumbled, trying to avoid Clarisse's eyes. I had an awful headache and got the distinct feeling that parts of my brain were still rebooting. But I could tell that Chiron was right. I felt weaker than I could ever remember being. Some vain corner of my mind grumbled irritably about how much training I was going to have to do to get back into shape. I had _worked_ for those abs, damn it.

"Are you a traitor?" Clarisse asked bluntly. "Because I've been beating up anyone who said you were, so I'd really hate to have been doing that for nothing." It was amazing how such an innocuous sentence, coming from her, could carry such a wince-worthy threat.

"It's kind of complicated. But, uh, I appreciate that. I think," I added after a moment of thought.

"You better. Now tell me before I kill you."

"Um, Clarisse," Chiron said carefully, "The boy _did_ just wake up from a week-long coma. Maybe you should..."

"I'd rather get it out of the way." And it was true. I had a feeling that I was sort of in shock right now, and that in half an hour it would all hit me and I'd break down in tears or something. I told the story as fast as I could, plowing tonelessly through the nasty parts without letting myself think about it. It took longer than I had expected, even though I edited out almost all of the details, since most of them were basically the specifics of my nightmares and I didn't really think the two of them needed to know what those were. Chiron looked increasingly sympathetic and I could tell he knew I was glossing over a significant part of my misadventure, but Clarisse's face was blank. I still couldn't meet her eyes.

Chiron patted my shoulder. "I realize that there isn't much I can say to help, but in my subjective opinion, you acted admirably. Any hero would have done the same." I bit my lip and kept my eyes downcast, remembering my disastrous Kelli-related decisions and spectacular lapse in judgment at Antaeus' arena, but kept quiet. Chiron clopped from the room without another word.

I glanced up hesitantly, wondering whether I was about to get my neck broken or not. Clarisse was staring after Chiron. Before I could look away, her eyes snapped back down to me.

"You're an idiot, Rodriguez," she finally said. "But you're not a traitor."

"Thanks," I replied as wryly as I could manage, trying not to show the enormous rush of relief her pronouncement brought.

"Anytime. I'll get a newb to grab some of your clothes; you look like a hospital patient. Oh, and most of my cabin is going to try to kill you. Good luck." She grinned sardonically and left before I could say anything else.

I felt exhausted, but I didn't want to sleep, because I had no clue where I'd wake up. Still, I pretended to be asleep when footsteps came down the hallway. Some random first-year wasn't exactly on the list of people I wanted to talk to at the moment. When the footsteps left again, I opened my eyes to see a pair of black sneakers, camouflage cargo pants and a black T-shirt on the nightstand, exactly what I'd been wearing when I left. I sighed. It was reassuring, at least, that they hadn't gotten rid of all of my clothes. I considered showering, but I didn't really need one, which sent my train of thought in a wholly unpleasant direction that I preferred not to dwell on. I threw the clothes on instead and looked around for the first time.

I was definitely in the Big House, judging by the light blue and white color scheme. It seemed like the room adjoined the hallway to the infirmary, which would make sense, I supposed. The room was empty except for the bed I was sitting on, a nightstand, a few chairs, and a few pictures and a mirror on the wall. I grimaced at the sight of the mirror, but I was curious to know whether I looked as awful as I felt, and I figured it was better to conquer a fear before it morphed into a full-on phobia. I was sure I'd end up with plenty of phobias to deal with without being afraid of mirrors.

My face was rawboned, my neck was scarred, and my hair was a shaggy mess, but there was something I couldn't quite put my finger on that hadn't changed. I supposed that being rehabilitated by the god of madness gave me a bit of an edge over most insanity patients, but I knew I was in better shape than I had any right to be. I still didn't feel anywhere near ready to face the rest of camp, though. Even if Clarisse didn't think I was a traitor, most of them probably did. I couldn't help feeling a bit abandoned, like I'd been thrown into another dimension and left to fend for myself.

Which, I thought irritably, I could do perfectly well, thank you very much. Weeklong coma or not, I could take the Ares guys. Assuming that Clarisse had meant "kill" in the metaphorical sense. If not, I might possibly have a problem on my hands, but I would figure that out later.

I walked down the hall, past Chiron, who looked up sharply, but I was outside before he could say anything. I froze when a hot wind hit my face. I had gone into the Labyrinth at the end of June, and I felt like I'd been in it for at least a month. I knew that time passed more slowly in the maze, which meant that summer would have had to be over.

"Chiron," I said slowly. "I thought you said I was out for a week!"

"Oh. No," he replied apologetically, clopping up behind me. "You were in a _coma_ for a week. You were… ahem… _out_ for six months. You were brought back to camp in early December. It's June."

I gaped soundlessly. "… Oh," I finally managed to say. I'd been away from camp for a year. I was seventeen, I realized. Hades, I was almost eighteen. I'd completely missed half a year of my life, which meant… "Dammit. Do I have to learn calculus _and _statistics this year?" I groaned.

"I'm afraid so."

"So did anything… you know, interesting happen in the last six months?"

Chiron considered that for a moment. "You might want to come sit down for this," he finally said. "A lot happened, actually."

I sighed and followed him back into the Big House. He filled me in on the quest to Othrys, a quest in March to rescue a missing camper from Circe's island– apparently they had succeeded, but the poor kid had been stuck as a guinea pig until Hermes had come to visit– and the Battle of the Labyrinth. Suddenly, I was happy I hadn't decided to cut through the main infirmary to leave the Big House.

"Lee Fletcher?" I repeated, dumbfounded. Mary had been desperate to meet him, I remembered. I'd been dreading explaining to him that I'd let his half-sister get killed, but it looked like I wouldn't have to now. "Any more dead friends of mine I should know about, or reincarnating Titans, or anything like that?"

It was ridiculous, I knew, to expect that the world had just stopped without me. But I never expected anything like this. Everything had changed, and I wasn't sure where I fit in anymore.

"I'm sorry, Chris," Chiron said. "I'm aware that this is none of my business, but… for what it's worth, your sanity means far more to Clarisse than she prefers to let on. She'll look out for you."

I nodded and ducked out the door before he could say anything else. I had barely made it down the steps when Silena Beauregard all but flew from the bushes, catching me in a hug that almost knocked me over backwards.

"Um… hello," I muttered, carefully extricating myself from her grip and wondering why the Hades she was so happy to see me.

"Chris!" she squealed. "Oh, I'm so happy you're better! I mean, I knew you would be, because my mom would never allow anything else, but– well, you know, I wasn't really expecting the whole…" She waved her finger in a circle next to her head, crossing her eyes.

I blinked. "Yeah, me neither."

I noticed for the first time that half the camp seemed to be located within a hundred feet of the Big House, none of them doing anything, but all of them doing their level best to act like they were. And every last one of them was staring at me.

"Um… Silena," I muttered uncomfortably, "How did everybody know I…?"

"Clarisse," she replied simply. I was curious as to what that meant, but decided it would be a bad idea to ask. "Hey guys! He's not a traitor!" Silena announced suddenly.

"What are you doing?" I hissed.

"Doing you a favor. They won't take it from you."

"How do _you _know what happened?_"_

"Clarisse told me." My jaw dropped. Since when were Clarisse and Silena friends?

Silena turned to the campers again, who had largely given up on looking unobtrusive. "He got kidnapped by a– it was a giant, right?" she asked, turning to me.

"Two giants. Yes," I muttered, clapping a palm to my forehead and wondering if anyone would notice if I ducked into the landscaping.

"Two giants!" she continued. "And then forced to take Kronos' oath because a little kid would've gotten murdered if he didn't. Non-binding. So he's not going to start killing you guys or anything. And then they threw him into the Labyrinth, and then he went insane." Silena finished with a blinding smile.

I'd been expecting the campers to burst out laughing, but they gave a collective "fair enough" shrug. I supposed that if Silena had been helping argue my case for the last six months, they'd sort of gotten used to her style of explaining things. And maybe it _was _a good thing if at least a vague version of what had happened was common knowledge. At least I wouldn't have to explain it to everyone.

I dodged away as soon as Silena turned her back, suddenly extremely thankful that I was a son of Hermes. I found myself heading for the arena, even thought I didn't have my sword and had no idea where it was. I made a mental note to ask Chiron later, wondering if it had even made it out of the Labyrinth. I wasn't sure whether I wanted it back or not. It was a reminder, but I'd fought with that sword for years. I'd had my eye on it at the camp armory since I'd first arrived, and had trained and trained until I'd finally grown strong enough to swing it. And maybe I wanted the reminder. Fighting with that sword would guarantee that I'd never forget, which would mean I wouldn't have to think about it constantly.

When I walked into the arena, I was wholly unsurprised to see Clarisse there. What did surprise me was that she wasn't training. She was sitting in the first row of stands in shorts and a tank top, not even wearing a helmet or breastplate. Not wearing battle armor made her look a lot less intimidating than usual. She kept staring at the sky, her expression unreadable, and I realized that she hadn't noticed me come in.

At least I thought so, until she glanced down and called, "Let me know before you pull any more moronic stunts, huh?"

"I'll try."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Get up here."

I vaulted into the stands, reflecting that it probably would have been easier to walk a few feet to the right and take the stairs.

"Show off. You're lucky Dionysus decided to heal your body, too. You probably would've died as soon as you woke up." I grimaced. It explained a lot, I supposed.

I couldn't help noticing that Clarisse looked different. Her hair was still in a bandanna, which was almost comforting– it was nice to know that some things never changed– but it looked shinier and better taken care of. She wasn't wearing makeup, which I was also thankful for because I was reasonably sure that the Earth would have crashed into the sun if she ever did, but it seemed like she was taking better care of her skin, too.

"Silena got to you, didn't she?" I asked.

Clarisse scowled. "I'm going to set her on you, too," she said, flicking a strand of hair that hung in front of my eyes. "You still look like a hobo."

**Sorry if the beginning felt a bit rushed. Writing the crazy part was making me… well… you know.**

**Oh, and I have theories for a few plot holes: Percy calls Chris a traitor because he and his friends are at the Council right now, and he just never happened to hear the real story. Percy and his friends survived the Labyrinth perfectly fine because Annabeth is a child of Athena, and the Labyrinth sort of goes easy on them, since it was built by one of them. Notice that when Grover and Tyson were separated from Annabeth, they were attacked by a giant snake and didn't actually find what they were looking for until they were with her again. Nico was fine because Nico is awesome. So, yeah, that's my theory and I'm sticking to it.**

**What did Minos have to do with anything? How did Chris manage to be wearing armor when they found him? I have no clue. I'm not getting paid for this. Bite me. XD**


	31. At Least Try to Act Mentally Stable

**Sorry if this one's a bit boring. It's important though, I swear! Eventually.**

The dark river flowed impossibly fast. Jagged rocks rose from its surface, but the water didn't crest and splash when it hit them. It flowed silently around them like they weren't there. I glanced up from where the current ran inches from my shoes, disoriented.

"Oh, no," I muttered. "Nonononono."

The vaulted rock ceiling, like of a cathedral, soared high above me, but it was still there. On the other side of the river, sharp pebbles progressed into massive slabs of stone, until they eventually formed a wall. I knew without turning that the same tableau would be behind me.

I had to be dreaming. I was out of the Labyrinth. Dionysus had woken me up, Clarisse had forgiven me, Silena had assaulted me– it had _felt_ real. I scraped at the pebbles with my toe. This felt real, too.

I gritted my teeth at the sound of a hiss behind me. The Labyrinth needed to get some new tricks.

I was surprised to see a single Eurynomus crawling toward me over the rocks, red eyes glowing. I could kill a Eurynomus easily, so why was the maze sending one at me? I reached for my sword. I found thin air.

Oh.

I sidestepped carefully until my back was no longer to the river. I was determined that no matter what happened, I wasn't going into the water. The monster came closer, needle-sharp teeth bared in a gruesome grin. I picked up a jagged rock the size of a discus, steeling myself. Could a monster actually be killed by a blow to the head? I had no idea, but I supposed I'd find out.

The Eurynomus paused, crouching, spiderlike, on a rock above me. It launched itself at me with no warning whatsoever. I swung the rock, but lost my nerve the last moment. No matter how painfully the thing wanted to kill me, I just couldn't bring myself to shatter the skull of something so disturbingly humanoid.

Well, why not? taunted a voice in the back of my mind that sounded alarmingly similar to Minos'. You killed the godling, didn't you?

I barely held the Eurynomus off as it snapped at my throat. It hissed furiously, then wriggled away from me abruptly, vanishing into the shadows between the rocks before I knew what had happened. I cursed quietly. Now the goddamned thing could be anywhere, and I was unarmed. If I could have gotten up the nerve to use the rock, I might have been okay, but there was no way I could do that.

Something heavy slammed into my back, knocking me to the ground on my face. I yelled in pain as teeth sank into the side of my neck. I drove my elbow at the weight on my back, gritting my teeth when I felt something crack. Probably the thing's ribs. I winced. I knew how that felt.

I struggled to my feet, and was surprised to find that I was dizzy. I hadn't hit my head, had I? Then I realized that there was a frightening amount of blood flowing from my neck. I clapped a hand to the wound instinctively, cursing when blood kept leaking through my fingers.

A chorus of hissing made me look up again. Dark, red-eyed shapes, at least fifteen or twenty, scuttled over the rocks. I glanced behind me for an escape route, and saw only the river. The Eurynomi crawled closer, teeth glinting hungrily.

I looked around desperately for something, anything to get me out of this. Nothing. I groaned, figuring it was time to decide if I wanted to go out like a hero or not. Fighting was probably the thing to do, but throwing myself into the river would be okay, wouldn't it? Probably. If only I could have gotten up the nerve to do either. Instead, I found myself cowering at the edge of the water and hoping desperately that I was dreaming.

There was a scrape of claws on rock as one of the monsters threw itself at me. I balled the hand that wasn't preventing me from bleeding to death into a fist and punched the thing as hard as I could. It fell to the ground. Before I could react, two more of the creatures bulled straight into me. Their teeth sank into my arm and shoulder as all three of us toppled toward the river.

The surface closed over me, and I knew I'd never make it back up as I was thrown helplessly head over heels by the current. The river was freezing. I still felt like I was falling.

I opened my eyes, gasping for breath. The feeling of falling was still there, and I glanced around the room to reassure myself. I was at camp, not in the Labyrinth. Of course it was a dream. I touched the side of my neck. No blood. Obviously.

I untangled myself from the sheets, thankful that Chiron had offered me a room in the Big House for a few nights. He had pointed out that it was better for me to make sure I had my perception of reality all lined up before I threw myself back into my routine. It had been followed by a lecture, rich in psychological terminology that I should have known after studying Psych for a year but didn't remember at all, about how I had to come to terms with everything that had happened, and particularly that I had to actually comprehend the fact that I had gone insane. I didn't really think I'd done that yet, and I was perfectly fine with letting it stay that way.

Even the ceiling above my head was making me nervous and trapped. I grabbed my shirt from the floor and crept down the hallway, silently thanking Hermes when my bare feet didn't make a sound. I had no idea where I was going, or even what time it was, but camp was so quiet I knew it had to be extremely early in the morning.

I had been out at night before, but it was always with a few other kids from the Hermes cabin, playing a prank on someone. The loneliness was almost eerie, but I kind of liked it, too. I still felt a little distant from the world, so the solitude felt right.

I found myself walking to the beach. I flopped on my back on the sand, staring up at the stars and listening to the waves. This was about as far from the Labyrinth as I could get. I found it hard to believe that the maze had been destroyed, like Clarisse had told me. I swore that thing was alive. And even if the building itself were rubble, whatever intelligence had been tormenting me wouldn't have necessarily died with it.

I shivered and forced myself not to think about it. The Labyrinth was gone and I had escaped. End of story.

I closed my eyes, thankful for the cool breeze. There was no way I could have a nightmare with it playing with my hair, because there was nothing like it underground.

I could remember everything that had happened in cold, sharp detail. I still couldn't tell what had been real and what I had imagined, but I was okay with that. I didn't really want to know what my imagination was capable of. Real life was scary enough. It was just my luck, I supposed, to return to sanity right in the middle of the biggest war I was likely to see in my lifetime. And that would have been fine– Hades, a little bit of excitement was welcome– if not for Clarisse.

Children of Ares, from what I'd seen and heard about, couldn't die happy unless they fought in at least one major war, which probably explained why they died so often. I had an awful feeling about how responsible she held herself for the entire camp. At least she didn't have a prophecy pitting her directly against the Lord of Time. I realized for the first time how much Annabeth must have worried about Percy, and wondered whether he even realized it. I decided the kid had enough to worry about without me holding a grudge. I'd play nice from now on.

Although if I ever ran into him during Capture the Flag, he was going down.

I was rudely awakened by someone kicking me in the side, none too gently.

"Good morning," Clarisse said conversationally. "Sleepwalk?"

"No." I sat up groggily, trying and failing to comb down my hair with my fingers. "Nightmare. I decided to come down here. Didn't mean to fall asleep, though."

"Ah. I was wondering where you went. Chiron was a little worried. You could at least try to act mentally stable, you know."

"You know, most people wouldn't mention that."

"I'm not most people."

"Fair enough."

It was amazing how I could go missing for six months and be insane for six more, and she could bicker with me like nothing had happened. I appreciated it, though. The other campers were nice enough, but seemed wary of me, not that I blamed them. If it had happened to someone else, I doubted I'd have ever been able to look at them the same way again. But of course, Clarisse saw things differently. To her, it was probably no different than any other injury. Now I was better, and she just didn't see it as an issue anymore.

"Training?" Clarisse asked, handing me my sword hilt-first.

"Thanks!" I didn't bother to ask where she'd gotten it. Who cared?

Clarisse grinned. "Good." She grabbed my arm and all but dragged me to the training arena. It went about as well as I'd expected, since I'd woken up roughly two minutes ago and was six months out of practice. But Clarisse went easy on me, which was something I'd never seen her do, not even for first-years. We stayed in the arena for pretty much the entire day, only leaving for meals. She seemed to have taken it as a personal mission to get me back into fighting form as quickly as possible.

"Dammit, Clarisse, we're both year-round campers! What's the rush?" I groaned, reeling from a particularly enthusiastic strike.

"We're in a war, if you hadn't noticed," she shrugged, swinging her spear an inch from my nose. "If Kronos attacked tomorrow, you'd be dead in half a minute."

"You're saying you're worried about me."

Clarisse's eyes narrowed. "I am not." There was no venom in it, though. In fact, I was pretty sure she was biting back a smile.

We basically killed ourselves in the arena for the next week– or, more accurately, she killed me– until I finally started to feel like myself again, like I could take on a hellhound and win. Clarisse seemed less guarded every day. I wondered if she hadn't been completely sure that I was better for good. Not that I blamed her. I hadn't been all that confident, either.

All in all, things were falling into place. Kieran, my friend from the Ares cabin, seemed to accept my return to sanity as a matter of course, just like Clarisse had. The Hermes kids were a little leery of me at first, but none of them had actually seen me while I was insane, at least not as far as I knew, so it was more like a rumor to them. In fact, the only person whose relationship with me seemed to have changed was Silena Beauregard.

"You. Are. Completely. Insane," I muttered through gritted teeth, resisting the urge to bang my head against a tree. She'd somehow cornered me while I was running, which I was a bit sketched out by, because I ran a different route every day.

"I'm right!" she insisted, gesturing wildly with a crimson-painted fingernail. "She'd _totally_ say yes! Clarisse and I are practically BFFs!"

I raised an eyebrow at the thought of Clarisse being anybody's BFF, least of all a daughter of Aphrodite. "You want me dead, don't you? This is all some kind of elaborate assassination plot. What did I ever do to you?"

"I promise she'll say yes! She probably won't even hit you! Come on, Chris, I saw her when you were crazy! She was devastated! She cried!"

My jaw dropped. "We're talking about the same Clarisse here, right? Clarisse La Rue? _Cried?_"

"In an angry sort of way, yes."

I whistled, trying to decide how I felt about that little revelation. Well, who was I kidding? Of course I knew how I felt. A year of separation seemed to have had absolutely no effect on my status as a total creeper. Which, I supposed, made me even creepier. But was mutual creepiness still creepy?

"Fine," I said, rubbing my temples. "I'll ask her to the fireworks. And if I get killed, I'm haunting you."


	32. Feeling Like Quite the Ninja

**Sorry if it's a little short. I got bored. :P**

"Percy, you guard the creek. My cabin, take Silena and guard the flag. Silena, anyone tries to take it, you _convince_ them not to."

Annabeth rapped out orders like a war movie sergeant. It was the Friday before the Fourth of July, and I still hadn't gotten up the nerve to ask Clarisse to the fireworks. The funny thing was, I was actually reasonably confident that she liked me, as a friend if nothing else. The problem was whether she'd be willing to sacrifice her badass reputation to admit it. And now, since Ares was the other captain and Hermes had allied with Athena, she'd be either angry at me or smug for the next few days.

"The rest of Aphrodite, you guys… do whatever." Annabeth started making her way down my cabin's line. "Travis and Connor, you guys are decoys. Run right near wherever there are the most of them."

"We're gonna die," the Stolls moaned in unison. Annabeth ignored them.

"Jenna, Davis, right flank. Maya, Katy, you go left, and… excellent," she grinned, stopping right in front of me. "I forgot we had you back. You'll be in the center, after the flag. Don't wear armor; it'll slow you down. If Hermes claimed you, you should be the fastest kid at camp by far."

She had moved on before I could protest. Me, go after the flag, which was almost certainly guarded by Clarisse, without wearing armor?

"Does _everyone_ want me dead?" I grumbled. I wondered if she was right, though. I was a few years older and several inches taller than the rest of my cabin, aside from Travis and Connor, and while they'd inherited my dad's mischievousness and thieving skills, stealth and speed weren't exactly their forte.

The conch horn blew. I jumped the creek and ran into the woods, trying to be quiet and wishing I could have at least worn a helmet. Almost immediately, a Demeter kid popped up in front of me. I dodged the vines that snapped at my feet, putting on a burst of speed and running straight at the kid. He ducked with a yelp, and I jumped over him, feeling like quite the ninja.

I ran toward Zeus' Fist. Whichever team was on this side of the creek almost always put the flag there, because it was so easy to defend. When I arrived at the clearing, though, there was no one there. The ground was scarred, and some of the trees looked like they'd been burned.

"The Hades?" I muttered, creeping toward the pile of rocks. It seemed unlikely that the flag was up there, but I figured I might as well check.

"You know that's where the Labyrinth entrance was, right?" Clarisse's voice called.

I jumped back like I'd been burned. I didn't want my back to Clarisse, but I sure as Hades didn't want it to the rocks, either. The Labyrinth was gone, I knew that, but I still couldn't shake the feeling that something would grab me and drag me back in. Although, of course, I had bigger problems at the moment.

Clarisse strode toward me, smirking. I decided once again that discretion was the better part of valor and ran for my life. It took me a good few seconds to realize that she wasn't chasing me. I could hear her running through the woods in exactly the opposite direction.

She'd left the flag, I realized. I wondered if she'd known that no one had told me this was where the Battle of the Labyrinth happened, and that I'd come here. Probably. Now she'd be heading back.

I gave a long-suffering sigh and took off after her, wondering whether I had some kind of a death with. Deliberately following Clarisse during Capture the Flag wasn't generally something that anyone did. Still, I was reasonably confident that she wouldn't kill me. Hurt me, maybe, but not kill me.

The flag turned out to be exactly where it had been the night I'd left, over a year ago now. Another Hermes kid was halfway across the clearing when Clarisse lunged from the woods. The kid squeaked in dismay, right before Clarisse conked her over the head with her spear handle, dropping her like a stone. I winced, fully aware that I was probably about to receive the same treatment.

"Hey there, Chris," Kieran's voice said gleefully from right next to me.

I threw myself backwards just as he lunged. Clarisse's head shot up, and she started walking toward us. Before I could stand up again, Kieran grabbed the back of my collar and shoved me into the clearing.

"Some friend you are," I muttered. He laughed.

Clarisse's face lit up. "Gods, Chris, I knew you were an idiot, but I didn't think you were _that_ stupid," she gloated.

"You know something? Your cabin takes this entirely too seriously," I commented as Kieran twisted my arms behind my back.

Clarisse sniffed. "Aw, quit complaining. He didn't even draw blood."

Something told me I could get away from Kieran. The only problem was that Clarisse would tackle me as soon as I did, and after training for a week, she was wise to my Hermes-kid tricks.

Clarisse gestured imperiously in what I assumed was the direction of the jail. I let Kieran push me out of the clearing until we were out of Clarisse's line of sight. As soon as there were a few trees between us, I ducked and spun in a move that probably made me look like a mentally handicapped ballet dancer on drugs, but it did the job.

"Hey!" Kieran yelped as I took off toward the flag.

Clarisse turned in the direction of the noise. I ran around her the opposite way, nabbing the flag in the process, so that I was near the trees on the other side by the time she noticed what I'd done. She cursed and raced after me.

I sprinted through the trees as fast as I could, ducking branches, branch-wielding  
Demeter kids, and various bits of weaponry. Finally, I saw the creek glimmering ahead of me. The Apollo cabin lined it. For a minute, I thought they were going to shoot me when I flew from the woods, but they started cheering when they saw that I had the flag.

I almost tripped over my own feet when I noticed the Apollo girl standing directly across from me, jumping up and down and clapping. She looked exactly like Mary. Same freckles, same pointy features, same thin strawberry-blonde hair and skinny build.

I could hear Clarisse behind me, charging like an angry bull. I had a nasty feeling that I had lost speed. I threw myself toward the creek and leapt from the edge, knowing that I wasn't going to make it. Halfway across, in midair, Clarisse slammed into me. I threw the flag as hard as I could. An instant before Clarisse and I crashed into the water, the Apollo girl reached out and nabbed it. The bloody boar shimmered into a golden bow.

I couldn't help but smirk when I broke through the surface. Clarisse looked like a cat after a bath, bedraggled and absolutely furious. She scowled, grabbed the back of my neck, and dunked me in the creek. I was laughing so hard I inhaled water. When I came up coughing, she smacked me on the back, almost knocking me down again. The entire Apollo cabin started cracking up. I shook water out of my hair, half of it going in Clarisse's direction, and shot her a winning smile. She rolled her eyes and dunked me again.

That night at the campfire, instead of lurking at the back like we usually did, we sat right near the flames since both of us were soaked. Clarisse was trying to act angry, but she was doing an absolutely awful job of it. I was tempted to ask her to the fireworks, but I knew anything I said would be overheard, and Clarisse wouldn't appreciate being put on the spot. And I was pretty sure the Stolls would start wolf whistling if I asked her to come somewhere less crowded, which she would appreciate even less.

"I swear, Chris, I'm going to make taking you out my sole mission next time," Clarisse grumbled.

"You'll have to catch me first."

She smiled innocently. "Never said I'd do it during the game." I laughed. She scowled. "I'm serious."

"I know. That's why I'm laughing."

"You are one bizarre boy," Clarisse said, shaking her head slowly. She grinned suddenly. " I missed you, punk."

**OOC? What is this OOCness of which you speak? -****innocent look-**


	33. I See What You Did There

**Nothing to say, really. Not having an author's note just bugs me.**

I hadn't actually spent a full night indoors since my return to sanity. I'd tried the first few nights, but no matter how many sheep I counted, I couldn't fall asleep with the ceiling two feet away from my face. Eventually I gave up and just read or listened to music until the rest of my cabin was out cold, then slipped out to the beach to sleep. Since I was outside, the sunrise always woke me up, and I was at the pavilion before anyone else was awake. I wasn't getting quite enough sleep, but it was worth it not to have nightmares. As far as I was aware, no one knew.

Of course, I'd have to get over my little neurosis by winter. I didn't relish the thought of spending the night outside on Long Island during December.

I was just leaving the pavilion as the first of the campers started to arrive. A few of them threw me some strange looks, but they were mostly some gung-ho first years, so I didn't really know any of them. I swung along the corner of the kitchen building toward my cabin to change, and was understandably surprised when Silena Beauregard popped out of nowhere, grabbed the front of my shirt and shoved me against the wall with more strength than a girl half my size had any right to possess.

"Um… Silena," I commented neutrally, "Can I ask why you're pinning me to a wall? I mean, _I_ know you're just crazy, but you see how other people could get the wrong idea, and I'd rather not get murdered by Beckendorf, thanks."

Her eyes widened. "What about Beckendorf?" she asked excitedly.

I cursed mentally, realized I'd just committed a serious violation of the bro code. "Forget it. What do you want?"

Silena was clearly still suspicious, but let it slide. "The fireworks are tomorrow! You haven't asked her yet, have you?" she asked accusingly.

I sighed, disentangling her hands from my shirt and brushing splinters of wood from the kitchen building off my back. "No."

"Why not?"

"Because she's been running around with her little entourage of Ares guys for the past few days! They'd freaking kill me!"

Silena scowled. "You're saying you're scared of them."

"Of the entire cabin of children of the God of War? Why yes, as a matter of fact I am." Silena tilted her head thoughtfully. I clapped a palm to my face. "Oh gods. Whatever you're thinking, the answer is no."

"You don't even know what I was going to say!"

"True. Let's keep it that way."

She didn't seem to hear me. "How about this. I'll lure her to the Aphrodite cabin, and you can-"

"How about no. Just… I'll ask her to train with me or something. I'd prefer to keep this as non-convoluted as possible, thanks."

I was half-expecting her to be mad at me, but her face split into a grin. "Awesome! Good luck!"

"I'll need it," I grumbled as she skipped away.

I stomped up to the Hermes cabin. My cabin mates were just starting to wake up, and it occurred to me that they usually wouldn't be up for hours, a state of affairs that they were having a fantastic time bitching about. I remembered that today was the first day since the Battle of the Labyrinth that Chiron was actually enforcing the regular schedule. Which, I realized, meant that I might not see Clarisse at all.

"What's first?" a girl called to Travis. He scratched his head and started rooting around in the junk covering his bed, finally coming up with a crumpled piece of paper.

"Uh… arts and crafts. With the Ares cabin."

Well, that solved that problem. I'd never had arts and crafts with them before. It was sort of difficult to imagine the cabin of huge fighters trying to make a sculpture or something.

I went down to breakfast again with my cabin, figuring that there was no such thing as too much French toast and bacon. We all trooped toward the arts cabin, complaining heartily about how unfair the scheduling.

The Ares cabin was already there. They shot us a collective scowl as we piled in. Clarisse, I noticed, was sitting at a four-person table, along with Kieran and Mark Sherman. Before I could lose my nerve, I walked over and slid into the chair next to her.

Kieran snorted. "Hey there, buddy. Nice of you to come sit by me."

"Anytime."

Chiron, apparently aware of the fact that no one liked having an organized schedule again, announced that there wasn't a lesson plan for the day. We pretty much translated that as "free for all." My table ducked in unison as a pot of paint went flying overhead.

"Honestly, who thought this was a good idea?" Sherman grumbled as a pencil bounced off his armor with a musical _ping._ I knew better than to ask why he was wearing armor to arts and crafts.

"Better than that time we had to draw Dad's little escapade with Aphrodite," Kieran pointed out. The three of them shivered, and I was suddenly happy that I'd missed that particular class.

I pulled a piece of paper toward me, picking up a pencil halfheartedly. I was okay at sketching, but I had a tendency to stare at my paper for an hour and never decide what to draw. I knew Chiron would probably be delighted if I sketched something from the Labyrinth, since he'd decide it meant I was letting go of the trauma or whatever, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I finally decided on the Princess Andromeda, figuring that it was close enough.

"Is that Kronos' ship?" Clarisse asked.

"Yeah."

"Try to draw the layout."

I shrugged and flipped the paper over, sketching the floor plan as well as I could remember. I hadn't seen the whole ship in the few days I'd been on it, but there had been maps posted all over the place, and I could recall them pretty well. I didn't notice until I was almost done that all three Ares kids were staring at the paper.

"You're sure that's where the engine room is?" Sherman said thoughtfully.

"Reasonably sure, yeah. Why?"

Kieran grinned. "Because we could blow it up. Somebody runs along _here–_" he explained, gesturing at a service hallway on my impromptu cartography, "– A bit of Greek fire _here,_ demigods jump overboard _here,_ and boom. No more monster ship."

"All we'd really need is a few pegasi or something," Clarisse pointed out. "Or a son of Poseidon."

"Prophecy kid? No chance they'd risk his fated ass." Sherman shook his head. "You're right about the pegasi, though," Kieran agreed. "Should we show this to Chiron?"

"Go for it," I shrugged. He and Sherman grabbed the paper and shot toward the front of the room.

"Oh, sure," Clarisse grumbled. "That was my idea!"

"Sorry."

There was a too-long moment of silence. I doodled a pegasus flying away from my sketch of the Andromeda, then grinned and drew an explosion pluming through the hull. Clarisse laughed.

"Nice."

"Thank you. I think so too." I glanced up. Kieran and Sherman were both talking at once to Chiron, who looked confused, but interested. It wouldn't be long before they came back to the table. I gulped, glancing at Clarisse. I knew I'd never do it if I let myself think about it. And besides, it wasn't like she'd kill me with two whole cabins and Chiron around. At least I hoped not. "Um, Clarisse?"

"Mm?" She didn't even look up from her paper. She was drawing Cerberus looming over a lone figure, the dog's three sets of fangs bared. The person in front of it held nothing but a lyre.

"Will you come to the fireworks with me?"

I was amazed that my voice didn't crack. Clarisse's hand froze halfway through one of Cerberus' claws. Her eyebrows wrinkled.

"Last resort, he said," Kieran grumbled from out of nowhere, sliding into the seat across from me. "Too dangerous."

"Dangerous. Huh." Sherman scowled. "Hades, I'd do it myself if he'd let me."

"How?" Clarisse laughed, turning to them like nothing had happened. "You don't have a clue what to do with Greek fire. You'd blow yourself up before you got off the ground."

I glared at my paper as the three of them mocked each other. It was just my luck. I didn't dare look up for the rest of the class. What had I been thinking? Since when did I take advice from Silena Beauregard? There was no way she'd say yes, but I couldn't take it back.

But I couldn't shake off the tiny bit of irrational hope that maybe, just maybe, she would. I knew it was probably just wishful thinking. She was practically a celebrity, the best fighter in camp, the kid who'd brought back the Fleece, and I was the idiot who'd gotten his ass kicked by a building. And now I'd tipped my hand.

Chiron announced the end of class. I desperately wanted to run away before Clarisse could talk to me, but I knew if I did that, I'd have to avoid her until the end of next summer when we both left for college. Maybe I could just play it off as a joke or something.

Gods, I was going to _kill_ Silena.

Clarisse kept working on her drawing as the rest of the campers filed out. I sat next to her, my arms crossed like the kid waiting to talk to the principal. Finally, even Chiron had left, after shooting me a knowing look that I had to put in a ton of effort not to return with a glare.

Clarisse took a deep breath.

"Okay. My dad's probably going to hunt you down and kill you, though."

I blinked, taken completely off guard. As usual. "Really?"

"Yeah," she laughed. "I'm the only daughter he pays attention to. According to Chiron, Hermes practically had to fight him off the first time he noticed me paying attention to you."

"No, I believe that part," I muttered, wondering whether an overprotective god of war was really going to come after me, and if so, exactly what I was supposed to do about that. "I just didn't expect you to say yes."

"Well, why'd you ask? Wait, don't answer that. Silena, right?"

"… Maybe."

Clarisse burst out laughing. "She's scary, isn't she? You know how I got this haircut? She pushed her dresser over on me to pin me down."

"Of course she did. It looks nice, though."

Clarisse raised an eyebrow. "I see what you did there."

"Aw, come on. I try," I said with a defensive shrug.

"Whatever. I mean… did you actually _want_ to ask me? Because if you did it under duress, I'd feel kind of bad."

"No, I did!" I protested. "I admit I was kind of scared, but… yeah."

Clarisse sniffed. "You insult me. I'm not _that_ scary."

"Give me a break. You'd be pissed off if I _wasn't_ terrified of you."

She considered it. "True. Oh look, we have swordfighting next!" she said delightedly, pulling a piece of paper from her bag and giving me an evil grin.

"Oh, fantastic," I sighed.

**Eh. Not terribly fond of this chapter, but I did my best. I have some, ahem, interesting ideas for the fireworks, but I can't decide exactly how sketchy I want this fic to get.**

… **Screw it. I'm going for it. :D**


	34. A Hipster or Something

**Thank you guys so much for the awesome reviews! I honestly didn't have much in mind when I started this fic, but I'm so glad you like it! To thank you, I give you… fanservice. ;)**

**The idea of Silena having charmspeak is completely Clichesbullet's and I'm shamelessly ripping it off, so, yeah. I haven't even read TLH yet, to tell the truth, so I'm sort of estimating here.**

**Oh, and uh, no offense to any hipsters reading this.**

"You did it! Ahhh! I'm so proud of you!" Silena squealed, jumping up and down and skipping around me. "And she didn't even hit you!"

"Guess not," I said, scarcely believing it myself. I could also scarcely believe that I'd let Silena corner me yet again, in the archery shed this time.

Silena kept bouncing around so much that I got dizzy watching her. "I can't believe this!" she ranted. "I mean, Clarisse La Rue! The one who kicks ass and takes names! The Amazon! On a _date!_ Are you going to kiss her?"

There was a beat of silence while I stared at Silena like she had just suggested I pursue a career in interpretive dancing. "Do what now?"

"Kiss her, I said! You know, that thing people do on dates? Mwah-mwah?" She pursed her lips. I leaned back.

"The only question if I did that would be whether Clarisse or Ares would kill me first. And maybe which would make it more painful."

Silena tilted her head, narrowing her eyes thoughtfully. "Ares for the first one, Clarisse for the second."

"Definitely Clarisse for the second," I agreed resignedly. "What makes you think she wouldn't kill me, though?"

Silena's jaw dropped exaggeratedly. "Hel-lo? Have you _seen_ how she looks at you?"

Another silence. It occurred to me that there was a certain expression, somewhere between alarm and disbelief, which seemed to be reserved specifically for Silena Beauregard.

"Um… no?"

She grinned, displaying an alarming number of blindingly white teeth. "I've already told you, Chris. She _totally_ wants you."

"What she totally wants is to kill me and that would be the perfect excuse. And besides, there's no way in Hades I'm pissing Ares off."

"Awww, c'mon!" she whined. "You have to fight for true love! Be brave! It's just like Romeo and Juliet!"

"Sure, if Juliet came after Romeo with a spear every five minutes," I grumbled. "And if Daddy Capulet could shoot fire from his eyes."

Silena sighed, clasping her hands. "I know! It's so romantic!"

I blinked. "I'm leaving."

She was in front of me instantly, eyes narrowed dangerously. I was reasonably sure I could shove by her, but of course the rules of life didn't really allow for that considering that I had a good fifty pounds on her. Which was hardly fair, considering that between charmspeak and blackmail, she totally had the jump on me.

"Come on, Chris, man up! I promise she won't hurt you! Much. I'll get Mom to talk to Ares! And besides, you shouldn't be afraid of him!"

"You know, I'm sure there was a way you could have phrased that without insulting my masculinity. Particularly ten seconds after having called the girl I like an Amazon," I pointed out, raising an eyebrow and thinking privately that it would take more testosterone than I had to make anyone want to fight with Ares.

Silena didn't seem to hear me. "You know you want to," she sang.

The funny thing was, I did. A lot. And if there was anything I should have been afraid of it was either Ares torturing me to death or Clarisse beating the Hades out of me, but those weren't what scared me. What I actually dreaded was Clarisse just not being interested. And despite Silena's insistence that that was far from the case, I couldn't quite wrap my head around the fact that she actually liked me. It just didn't seem possible for Clarisse to like anyone, let alone someone like me, who wasn't even brave enough to kiss her. It was completely circular logic and I knew it, but that didn't change anything.

"Weeeeell?"

I stared at the floor defeatedly, running a hand through my hair. "Maybe," I finally said. "If it doesn't seem completely suicidal."

There. Nice and nonbinding. Or at least it should have been, but Silena squealed and started skipping around again. I quite literally banged my head against the wall.

"That's it. I'm really leaving this time," I grumbled, dodging out the door before she could cut me off again.

The sun was already starting to go down, meaning that the fireworks would start in an hour or so. Finding Clarisse, I realized, would probably be a smart thing to do. I figured the training arena was probably a good place to check.

True to form, there she was, bludgeoning some dummies mercilessly with a sword that would have taken all my strength to swing. Her hair flew loose around her as she spun with surprising grace for someone so tall. I was so distracted by her that I walked right into the range of her sword. She whirled. I yelped and hit the deck a fraction of a second before the blade whooshed over my head.

"Oh. Um, sorry," she said sheepishly, offering a hand. "Don't sneak up on me like that while I'm training."

"Never again, trust me," I managed to say, still seeing my life flashing before my eyes.

Clarisse grinned. "Want to train until it gets dark? The fireworks won't start 'til then anyway."

"Your day really isn't complete without beating me up, is it?"

"I wouldn't if you won," she shrugged, returning the sword to the rack and picking up her spear. "That's how training works."

She was attempting my murder before I could reply. I had my sword on my belt because I had just come from swordplay practice before Silena assaulted me, which meant that I was fighting with a weapon I was comfortable with, but also that I'd lost that particular excuse when she inevitably beat me.

Clarisse had stopped going easy on me since she'd deemed me fully recovered, but she seemed to be fighting particularly hard today. I could barely defend myself, let alone fight back. As she pressed toward me, she had a thoughtful, scheming look on her face that immediately told me I was in serious trouble. In a split second pause between blows, I glanced over my shoulder. Sure enough, the wall was a few feet behind me.

I scowled, deciding that I wouldn't let her beat me _that_ embarrassingly right before I was supposed to be going to the fireworks with her. I dodged to the side as she lunged, and noticed two things at precisely the same time: number one, she had made it way too easy for me to jump out of the way, and number two, her foot was hooked around the back of my knee.

It was yet another of those times where I found myself flat on my back on the arena floor with only the vaguest idea of what had just happened. My sword lay just out of reach, which didn't really matter considering that Clarisse had a knee on my chest and had somehow managed to pin both my wrists to the ground above my head with one hand. She smirked, holding her spear against my throat with her free hand, which struck me as a bit unnecessary. Her hair brushed my face.

"That wasn't fair," I grumbled.

"You don't even know what I did," she sulked, jabbing the spear against my neck and forcing my chin up.

I huffed indignantly, making a halfhearted and unsurprisingly unsuccessful attempt to escape. "All right, fine. I'm pretty sure you won. You can let me up now."

Clarisse completely ignored me in a way that reminded me disturbingly of Silena. She finally moved her spear and took her hand off my wrists, but still didn't seem particularly inclined to let me go.

"If I asked you something, would you answer honestly?" she said out of nowhere.

I considered it, trying not to think about the fact that the gods were probably laughing their immortal asses off at me right now. "Probably not. Unless that was a threat, in which case, yes."

"That was quite honest."

"It was, wasn't it? Now what do you want? I can't really breathe."

Clarisse looked thoughtful again. "Were you by any chance planning on kissing me tonight?"

I blinked, completely thrown by the question. I knew there had to be one right answer and one wrong answer, and the wrong answer was undoubtedly very, very wrong. "… Maybe?" I squeaked.

She nodded, like I had confirmed something she'd been thinking. "Good enough," she shrugged, then twined one hand into my hair and kissed me on the lips. Hard.

I froze, my eyes widening and my breath catching in my throat. She had, as usual, taken me completely off guard, although I didn't really think I could have anticipated that. I noticed that I was kissing her back, even though I hadn't actually made a conscious decision to do so. Not that I was really capable of a conscious decision at the moment.

It was a good ten seconds before she backed off. She scooted to the side, raising an eyebrow like she was waiting for a reaction.

"Was not expecting that," I said weakly as soon as I remembered how to breathe, sitting up dizzily and attempting to fix the hair she had grabbed. "Um, what was that for?"

Clarisse shrugged. "I didn't want my first kiss to be at the fireworks. That's just boring."

"So you thought the training arena would be more unique," I said disbelievingly. "What are you, a hipster or something?"

"That wasn't the _only_ reason," she scowled as I chased down my sword from where she'd sent it flying. "I also knew you wouldn't get up the nerve."

"I might have," I protested indignantly.

"Sure," Clarisse snorted. Suddenly, she lunged forward, grabbing the front of my shirt and pinning me to the wall I'd forgotten was two feet behind me. "Oh, and one more thing. Nobody hears about this, got it, punk?" she growled.

And _there_ was the Clarisse I knew. I made a mental note to always keep track of where the walls were when she was within a hundred feet of me.

"What, you think Silena won't find out?" I pointed out. "I bet she knows already. She probably knew before I did."

Clarisse's eyes narrowed even more. Her free hand balled into a fist. "If she knows, she knows, but she will _not_ hear it from you. And neither will anyone else. _Right?"_

Gulp. "Yes ma'am."

She spent a few more seconds glaring at me suspiciously, but finally seemed to decide that punching me in the face wasn't the thing to do.

And thus, I thought ruefully, a beautiful relationship was born.

**Aaand now we know who calls the shots in said relationship.**

… **Everyone's thinkin' it, I'm just sayin' it!**

**I know that seemed kind of sudden, but if you think about it, it sort of makes sense. I mean, Clarisse pretty much does whatever the hell she wants, right? And she's fearless, so the possibility of rejection wouldn't scare her off. Plus she probably had Silena telling her he wouldn't object. So there you go. It didn't turn out quite as sketchy as I'd feared, hurrah for that. But never fear! I'll still thoroughly earn that T rating! How, you ask? Why, with innuendo and dirty jokes, mostly courtesy of the Stoll brothers, of course!**

**So, your opinion: should this stay as pretty much a light, happy romantic comedy-type-thing, or should I let it get a little dark and twisted?**


	35. Might I Remind You I've Punched a God

**Eyyo. So I've been having some pretty awful writer's block. Suddenly I got inspired enough to write most of this chapter… and then promptly lost it again. So yeah, this is really short and has half the content I wanted it to, but I just wanted to tell you guys I'm not abandoning this and I felt bad to do a chapter that was only an author's note… So here we are. I've got finals the week after next, so you might not hear from me 'til a little after then. But I'll never abandon this! NEVEEEEERRRRRR!**

**Ahem. Anyway, yeah, I've got some… interesting ideas for the Battle of Manhattan that I definitely want to use. Even though Chris and Clarisse are only there for FIVE GODDAMN MINUTES, DAMN YOU RICK RIORDAN. To the canonbending machine… awaaaaay!**

… **That is all.**

Clarisse and I might have never talked to each other again after the fireworks, if not for the force of nature that was Silena Beauregard. Who, just as I expected, knew exactly what had happened, presumably either having been told by Clarisse or just being psychic. And she had no qualms whatsoever with teasing me about it.

"Way to take the lead there, Chris," she giggled, elbowing me in the ribs.

I scowled. "She tricked me! How was I supposed to see that coming?"

"Um, how did you _not?_ I've warned you how many times now? You totally let that happen."

I glared at the campfire like I could somehow light it slightly _more_ on fire with a look alone. "Let me assure you, I most certainly did not."

Silena nodded understandingly. "So you're saying she successfully sexually assaulted you."

I gaped at her indignantly for a good five seconds before replying. "No, that most certainly is not what I'm saying. That's not even… What is _wrong_ with you?"

Silena didn't seem to be listening. "Gods, I didn't even know girls could _do_ that," she said thoughtfully.

I almost lost it there and then. "What are you _talking_ about? I thought you said you knew what happened! How does that even… What the… Ergh." I sighed defeatedly, leaning my forehead on my palms.

"Oh, sure, sure," Silena said lightly, patting my shoulder. "No, I know. I just think it's kind of funny that she can pin you down." She smiled sweetly, apparently completely unaware of the fact that I was about to murder her in cold blood.

I took a deep breath. "She's a daughter of Ares. It doesn't count, okay?" I growled. "And might I remind you that I've punched a god."

"What does that have to do with anything? And when did that happen?"

"Never mind," I sighed. "… And it happened in the Labyrinth."

Silena's face froze in a perfect _oh crap_ expression, and I suddenly felt bad for playing that card, even if I hadn't meant to.

"I mean, he was just a godling, really," I shrugged, since she clearly wasn't going to say anything and I didn't want the silence to continue.

"Oh. Hah. Yeah," she laughed nervously.

I turned back to the fire. Whenever I said anything even remotely related to the Labyrinth, that was the reaction I got. But it was sort of hard not to mention it, even by accident. It was a kind of big thing to happen to me, after all. But the fact that I'd lost my mind clearly made people nervous. I was lucky anyone wanted to be around me at all. It was way too much to ask for them to actively think about it. But as much as I would've loved to, it was kind of impossible to just forget about it. But I had to keep that little fact to myself. Psychologist-mode Chiron would have been furious. But what the Hades was I supposed to do?

xxx

I decided that I was spending the whole night in my cabin no matter what. I was reasonably sure that I wouldn't wake the other Hermes kids up if I had nightmares, since when I slept in the Big House I had always woken up with the sheets perfectly neat. Apparently I was one of those people who froze completely when they had nightmares. Go figure. And besides, in a cabin that big, somebody was having some big prophetic dream and waking up reciting poetry or something every other night.

But my subconscious was pure godsdamned evil.

I was lying on my back, the wooden ceiling maybe two feet from my face. I sat up and jumped down to the floor. The ceiling was still just a foot away from my head. The floor was stone. That wasn't right, I knew.

I was surrounded by wooden walls on three sides. In front of me was a tunnel. Sort of. There was ten feet or so of floor, then black nothingness that instantly made me nervous. I gauged the distance to the floor on the far side instinctively. At least twenty feet. I wasn't sure whether I could make that, but I had a bad feeling about where I was.

I turned at what sounded like a droplet of water hitting the floor behind me. The whole ceiling looked waterlogged, like the bottom of one of the older canoes after we carried it out of the lake. Another drop of water fell with a _plop._ The wood seemed to be bowing at the middle. Was the whole room underwater or something? I glanced back to the abyss again and gulped. That didn't look good at all. I looked back at the ceiling. That didn't look good, either.

The wood buckled suddenly, water dripping from it. I ducked, but rotting planking brushed my shoulders. I cast another look at the pit. Maybe I could have made it before, but I could never jump it without being able to stand up straight. The wood kept cracking. It seemed the most stable right next to the pit, forcing me to the edge of the floor. Little rivulets of water trickled past my feet and over the edge, falling until I couldn't see them anymore. The ceiling collapsed a foot further. The water flowed faster, to the point where I was afraid it would sweep me off my feet.

Then the whole room seemed to shatter. Planking and water crashed down on me, and I could feel myself being swept toward the abyss. I was falling.

My back hit something. I opened my eyes. The ceiling was ten feet from my face. That wasn't right, either.

I jumped upright without really thinking about it, then realized I'd just fallen out of my bed. None of the other kids seemed to have woken up. The cabin suddenly seemed way too small. I booked it outside as fast as I could without making any more noise than I already had, leaning against the outer wall of the cabin and trying to get my breathing under control.

Camp was completely silent. No water. No pits, nothing collapsing, no arenas, no Sphinxes, no scorpions, no Mary. I'd never see any of that ever again. Except for every time I closed my eyes, and sometimes when I didn't.

"Son of a bitch," I muttered.

**Oh, and if you still need your Chrisse fix, get it from You'd Be Surprised by AtheisticPokemon, Sunrise by Daughter of Hypnos, and Watch Me Burn by StarlitReader, each of which gave me huge fangirl attacks.**


	36. Chanel No Eleventeen

**In BotL, Percy devoted exactly half a sentence to the events of July, so I'm basically doing whatever the hell I want here. Warning: Chris is kind of evil again. Don't hate.**

I flipped my pillow over and kicked the blankets off, cursing the July heat and the fact that my cabin's air conditioner had decided to kick the bucket about an hour ago. At least I wasn't wearing armor like I had been on the Princess Andromeda.

Every night I promised myself that I wouldn't have nightmares. It had been weeks since my return to sanity, after all, and over six months since I'd escaped the Labyrinth. The problem was, half the time I'd been… away, it had really been my own head I was trapped in. And no matter how much time went by, I could never get away from that.

I still held out hope that it would just fade away on its own, like how I was always jumpy for a while after watching a horror movie but eventually forgot about it completely. But it didn't seem to want to. I had been spending every night in my cabin lately instead of sneaking down to the beach, determined to just ignore whatever little fragments of insanity were still bouncing around my head. They were kind of tough to tune out once I closed my eyes, though. I might as well have been back in the maze.

It wasn't even that I couldn't handle the nightmares. Most demigods had those now and then. It was the sheer frequency of them. If I had been woken up once or twice a night, fine. But I was barely sleeping at all. I spent entire nights staring at the ceiling. Whenever I _did_ fall asleep, it was so late at night that I came dangerously close to murdering whatever unlucky soul woke me up. Said unlucky soul was usually Travis, who had the bunk underneath mine and generally suffered the brunt of my mighty wrath.

Like now.

"Come on, guys, move it. I don't like it either," he yawned, stumbling around the cabin swiping at everyone he passed with a blanket. Fortunately for both of us, he couldn't reach me.

I blinked, adjusting between realities as gracefully as I could considering that I had been getting ripped apart by demons of the Underworld and taunted by a certain dead daughter of Apollo in one of them.

"Seriously. I don't want Ares beating us to breakfast again. They ate all the bacon yester– Agh!"

Travis' speech was cut off by my pillow hitting his face with slightly more force than may have been necessary.

"What was that for?" he cried indignantly.

"Shut up," I groaned into the mattress, aware that he probably hadn't deserved that, but exhausted far beyond the point of caring.

Travis ignored me. The rest of the kids piled out the door, which I didn't actually notice until I raised my head and realized that Travis and I were the only ones left.

"Um… you okay, dude?" he asked awkwardly, scratching his head.

"What? Oh. Yeah," I mumbled, jumping down from my bed and stumbling when I hit the floor.

Travis raised an eyebrow. "You sure about that?"

"I'm _fine,_" I growled. I wasn't really angry, but the Stolls knew not to mess with me when I was, so I figured it would get him off my back. To my dismay, Travis didn't leave.

"Have you even been sleeping? I mean, at least you're not leaving every night anymore– yeah, you're not as sneaky as you think you are, buddy," he said sardonically, reading my surprise. "And you've just about been biting my head off every day lately, and you're about ten times as touchy as you've ever been, and… okay, please don't kill me, but it's the Labyrinth, isn't it?"

I knew he was just trying to help, but I felt my temper flare up anyway. "I'm just tired, okay?"

"For two weeks straight?"

"Yup," I said flatly, shoving by him and walking out of the cabin. I jogged down to the training arena for lack of anywhere else to go, knowing I couldn't go to breakfast without Travis interrogating me. Great. Now I was tired _and_ hungry. If the Ares kids ate all the bacon, someone was going down.

Clarisse wasn't in the arena, presumably at the pavilion with the rest of her cabin. I scowled, remembering what she'd said to me a few weeks ago: _at least try to act mentally stable._ Well, I _was_ trying. The problem was that I wasn't succeeding. Hopefully Travis was the only one who had noticed anything, although anything Travis knew Connor knew too.

What was I supposed to do? I was trying to be nice, I really was. But Travis was absolutely right that I'd been touchy. "Touchy" was an understatement, to be perfectly honest. Pretty much everyone and everything annoyed me to no end, stuff that didn't usually bother me at all. I knew there were at least three first years who were utterly terrified of me. Even Clarisse, who wasn't exactly the queen of picking up on stuff like that, seemed to have noticed something was up, although she hadn't said anything. Of course, the only reason she'd noticed in the first place because she had been beating me even more easily than the usually did when we trained.

I flopped on my side in the stands, knowing that since I was outside I wouldn't have nightmares if I fell asleep. I had sworn I'd spend every night in my cabin. But it wasn't night, technically. I was furious at myself for sidestepping a promise like that, even if it was only a promise I had made to myself, but I was way too tired to stay awake. Even though I was lying on hard wooden bleachers in bright sunlight, I practically passed out two seconds after I put my head down.

xxx

I couldn't tell how much time had gone by when I woke up, but I knew it had been a while. I heard voices talking, and realized that must have been what had woken me up.

"You do it," one whispered.

"No! You do it!"

"Maybe we could just leave him?"

"I mean, it's pretty sunny. That would be kind of mean."

"… Can he _get_ sunburned?"

"Oh, real nice. Just wake him up."

The first voice sighed. "Does he have a sword? I'm not doing it if he's got a sword–" He cut himself off with a sound remarkably similar to "Eep!"

I smirked without opening my eyes. It sounded like a few first years were trying to use the arena. And I happened to like the feeling of the sun on my face, thank you very much. To be perfectly honest, I wasn't actually sure whether I could get sunburned. I figured I probably could, but it had never happened before, and I didn't particularly feel like moving.

"Um, hello Clarisse," the second voice squeaked. "Um, what are you…?"

I heard the sound of her footsteps behind me just a split second too late. Something that felt suspiciously like the sole of a combat boot hit my back. I tumbled off the bench with a yelp, catching myself a split second before my nose hit the next level of the bleachers.

"The Hades was that for?" I complained, hauling myself back onto the bench and rubbing my shoulder.

"Oh, no reason." She grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet. Instead of letting go, she set off down the stairs, dragging me after her. Her grip was the only thing that kept me from falling flat on my face, since I was still half-asleep and dizzy from being pulled upright so abruptly. The first years looked thoroughly mystified.

"Did I do something?" I yawned, stumbling after her in the direction of the Big House.

Clarisse turned, suddenly suspicious. "_Did_ you do something?"

"I don't know! That's why I'm asking!"

"How would _I_ know?"

I huffed. "I don't know! I just kind of figured there might be, oh, I don't know, a _reason_ for this?"

Clarisse's face turned thunderous. "No," she said, a little too quickly. She stomped toward the Big House again. It took me a few seconds to notice that she'd finally let go of my arm. I took off after her, noting with dismay that Clarisse apparently wasn't immune to all girl clichés, namely claiming not to be pissed off at me when she obviously was.

We ended up in the Big House rec room, where a counselor meeting seemed to be taking place. I blinked, remembering what I'd realized in the maze: If not for my little Labyrinth escapade, I'd be counselor of my cabin. Honestly, I had no interest in being in charge, but it still stung a bit. The Stolls both stared at their shoes when I followed Clarisse in.

"Ah, you found him," Chiron said. Clarisse nodded dutifully. Both of them then proceeded to completely ignore me, along with the rest of the counselors. They launched into a strategic discussion that was clearly a continuation of one I hadn't been there for. Well, that was fine with me. I yanked a folding chair up to the ping-pong table next to Clarisse, flopped my head down on my arms, and closed my eyes, wondering idly what the Hades I was there for.

Of course, I couldn't let myself fall asleep. I was inside, and I'd almost definitely have a nightmare. This didn't really strike me as the time or the place.

The counselors' voices faded into a hum. I let myself zone out completely, staring through half-closed eyes at a patch of light glimmering off Clarisse's armor. I occasionally caught words like "Titans" and "war" and "completely hopeless." They didn't particularly bother me. After the Labyrinth, it would take more than a Titan army and a high probability of death to faze me. Besides, if I died, I could probably find Daedalus. And that would be… satisfying, to say the least. Could spirits actually beat each other up? I wasn't sure, but I wasn't all that concerned. I'd find a way. Although I wouldn't have been surprised to learn that Mary had beaten me to it.

I let my eyes close completely, no longer concerned about whether I fell asleep or not, mostly because I was pretty much out already. It was a good thing, I mused, that I didn't snore. At least not as far as I knew, and the Hermes kids generally let people know if they did. The meeting dragged on. I didn't know how anyone who was actually fully conscious could sit still this long.

Percy and Annabeth started bickering while Clarisse snickered. She leaned forward, and I heard Silena whispering, like they were trying to have a secret conversation across the table. I could hear almost every word.

"They totally like each other!" Silena whisper-squealed, a skill that seemed to be unique to her.

"So?" Clarisse grumbled.

"But it's so cute!" Three guesses who.

"Well, good for them. But if it distracts them from the war I'll beat both of them up."

"Oh, because you're not distracted at _all._"

"Hey! I'm focused!"

"So you admit it," Silena crowed out loud. By now the entire meeting had pretty much dissolved into chaos. I kept my head down, not particularly interested in getting involved in Travis and Katie's argument, and maybe a little curious about where this conversation was going.

"You honestly think this is a good time, Silena?"

"Hmph! He's asleep!"

Clarisse made a grim noise. "He's a Hermes kid. Never, ever assume _anything._"

I smirked. I couldn't help it.

"Ah-hah!" Clarisse cried. "I told you he was awake!"

Even with my eyes closed, I could tell Silena was leaning over me, mostly because I was about to suffocate in Givenchy or Chanel number eleventeen or whatever the Hades those Aphrodite girls wore. "No, he's definitely asleep."

"Then what was he smiling at?"

"_Obviously_ the sound of your lovely voice, Clarisse m'dear. Classic sign of a boy in _luuuuurve._"

There were a few beats of silence. It took all my willpower not to crack up when I imagined what Clarisse's face must have looked like. The whole room seemed to have gone completely quiet.

"Ah. Right," Chiron's voice said, a little nervously. I got the feeling he had been trying to regain control of the meeting for a while. "Mr. Rodriguez. Would someone wake him up plea– Clarisse! A little more gently, if you would!"

I opened my eyes, reaching up and carefully moving Maimer's handle away from the back of my head.

Clarisse looked horrified. "I told you!" she hissed at Silena, something that looked suspiciously like a blush spreading across her face. I couldn't help being confused. What, exactly, was she afraid I might have overheard, considering that she had basically pinned me down and kissed me a few weeks ago? It seemed a little late to be playing hard to get.

"Uh?" I yawned eloquently, sitting up and shaking my head. Chiron looked vaguely unimpressed. I couldn't imagine why.

"Would you happen to know where any monster camps might be? Obviously Kronos' headquarters are on the Princess Andromeda, but he must have a few bases on land."

I thought about it, frustrated by how foggy my brain was. The ship had never stopped, but I had definitely heard monsters and demigods talking about something like that. There had been that blond guy, maybe fourteen, with really shabby armor, talking to a _dracaena_… I knew I'd heard him saying where he was getting off the Andromeda, but I couldn't for the life of me remember where. He had definitely been one of the ones who got off in Miami with Kelli and I. He had seemed kind of guilty when Kelli said she was sending Mary in with me. I could remember in painful detail the feel of the cool stone on my fingers when I touched the Delta, and the awful feeling when I first saw the dark stairway. I shivered.

"Chris?"

But of course, I couldn't remember anything even remotely helpful. I shook my head miserably. There was a collective disappointed sigh.

"Could you estimate the size of the army, then? What kinds of monsters were there, or how many? Honestly, anything you can tell us. Strategy, supplies, whatever."

I rubbed my temple, slouching in my chair. "Um, telekhines, _dracaenae, empousae…_" I scowled, Kelli's fanged grin flashing across my mind. But Annabeth had killed her, I'd been told. I wasn't sure how I felt about that. "Demigods, obviously. Hellhounds, giants– not too many of those– oh, and a drakon. Aethiopian."

Percy and Annabeth glanced at each other. I almost laughed. Yeah, they would've known that already, wouldn't they? They'd been on the ship for at least a little while. Chiron had probably already known everything I'd just said. I doubted I could remember anything Percy and Annabeth wouldn't know.

Well, maybe one thing.

"It's not just traitor demigods," I said. "They're tracking down kids the satyrs haven't found yet." Kids like Mary.

The counselors exchanged glances. "That's why satyrs have been disappearing," Katie Gardner said quietly.

"Yeah!" Travis agreed enthusiastically. Everyone stared at him. "What?"

Katie snorted. "We should send demigods out with the satyrs."

"I don't think we have enough people for that," Annabeth said sadly. "Chiron, how many campers do we have right now?"

He sighed. "Fifty-two after the Battle of the Labyrinth."

Beckendorf frowned. "I thought it was fifty-three."

"You're right," Chiron amended. "I forgot Chris."

Oh, sure. Forget about Chris. Great.

I took the new topic as a dismissal from the conversation, slumping across the table again and wondering whether I was allowed to leave. Everyone here outranked me, after all, I thought with a hearty scowl. And it truly wasn't the counselor thing that bothered me. It was just that Percy, who was three years younger than me, could technically boss me around if he felt like it. Not that I'd listen, of course, but still.

I knew perfectly well that I was only pissed off because I was so tired. But honestly, Percy was only a counselor on a technicality, namely the fact that he was so godsdamned _special_ he was the only one in his cabin. Didn't he kind of need a follower before he could call himself a leader?

Oh, wait. He had one. Tyson the Cyclops. I laughed grimly, the sound thankfully mostly muffled by my arms, although Clarisse gave me a weird look. How could I ever forget my old pal Tyson? I wondered what he was up to these days. Then, of course, I felt guilty, because I'd been raving mad for the past year and he could have been dead for all I knew. Like Lee and Castor and Mary, except not like them because I cared about them.

Gods, I needed sleep.

The counselors somehow managed to let just enough time pass for me to almost-but-not-quite fall asleep before they'd think of another question for me. Then they'd do it again. And again. And again. It was like having someone talk to me while I had earphones in, raised to the power of _would-you-shut-the-Hades-up-and-leave-me-alone-I've-barely-slept-in-days-damn-it. _And most of the questions were things I couldn't possibly know the answer to. Exactly how many Camp Half-Blood demigods were there? Were all of them claimed? Were there any Big Three kids? How fast did the ship travel?

"Did the armory seem more geared toward melee or distance fighting?"

"I don't know, okay?" I snapped angrily. Annabeth, who had asked the question, drew back, clearly affronted. Percy glared. I glared back. "And no, I don't know what color Kronos' underwear were. I was there for a week, over a year ago, all right? I didn't memorize everything I heard. I'm not a godsdamned child of Athena."

Thunder rumbled. I took a deep breath that came out more like a snarl. What, Athena had a problem with me now? Great. She and Ares and the godling from the Labyrinth could start a club.

To my surprise, it was Clarisse who picked up on the fact that I was just about to murder someone. I supposed she probably knew all about having a volatile temper. "He's told us everything he can remember," she growled, putting a hand on my shoulder while I glared at the table. "And I'm sure he'd tell us if he remembered anything else. Kronos is alive, and he's going to try to kill us all. I don't really see what more we need to know."

Annabeth frowned. "But–"

"_Leave it,_ punk."

Chiron was rubbing his temples like he was having a migraine. I wondered whether teenagers had changed much over two thousand years. Probably not.

"I think that's enough for today," he said tiredly, throwing me an unreadable look. The counselors rose reluctantly. I shot to my feet, probably the fastest I'd moved all day, then promptly swayed and sat back down when I was hit by another wave of vertigo. I blinked away the purplish fuzz to see Chiron staring at me, his expression suddenly a lot more readable. And it read something along the lines of: _you're not going anywhere, my friend._

I sighed resignedly, slumping and wondering what I had done this time. Was it my fault I was irritable? Maybe they just shouldn't have been so godsdamned annoying.

Clarisse didn't get up. She watched impassively as the other counselors filed out, silently daring Chiron to make her leave. I wasn't all that surprised when he didn't even try. I liked that about her. She was sort of mean sometimes, sure, and maybe a little violent, and arrogant, and kind of scary when she was mad, and possibly just the tiniest little bit of a sadist, but she was there when I needed her, and I couldn't say that for anyone else.

Chiron sighed. "Chris, Travis mentioned–"

I was going to _kill_ him. Kill him until he was _dead._

"– that you haven't been sleeping, and leaving the cabin at night."

I considered it, avoiding Clarisse's glare. "I've been staying in the cabin lately," I said carefully.

"So you haven't been sleeping, then."

Dammit.

"Well, I mean…" I trailed off helplessly. It would be sort of hard to lie, considering that I'd spent the last few hours practically passed out against the ping-pong table. "It's just a few nightmares," I shrugged, trying to keep the irritation out of my voice.

Chiron looked calm and sympathetic, but I could sense his exasperation. "Chris, everyone can see how tired you are. If you want to stay up all night, that's your business, but…"

_But stop taking it out on everyone else,_ I finished in my head. Yeah, easier said than done.

"… But somehow I doubt this is by choice." Or not. "Is there a particular reason you're so against even admitting you're not sleeping?"

I tilted my head, trying to unravel the deceptively simple question. I was pretty sure he was just trying to ask whether this was about the Labyrinth without actually using the L word. The weird thing was, I honestly didn't know why I didn't want to admit it. I knew it was obvious that I was tired, and I had already said I was having nightmares.

But the more I thought about it, the more I started to figure out what it was. I just couldn't stand thinking of myself as the victim anymore. I didn't want help. Not after the Labyrinth and Kronos and Kelli and Luke and Antaeus and my own subconscious and yeah, maybe Clarisse. I had already lost one fight to my own head, and Dionysus had had to quite literally save me from myself. For once, just once, I wanted to handle something on my own, even something as stupid as nightmares.

But just the thought of how patronizing Chiron would be if I tried to explain that made me grit my teeth. And there was no way in Hades I was telling him even if I thought he'd understand. So what was I supposed to say?

"I've just been having a little insomnia," I said, wondering whether insomnia was the type of thing you could have "a little" of. Probably not, judging by the look on his face. "Just give me a few weeks."

"I see," Chiron said skeptically, obviously accepting that I wasn't going to cooperate and there was absolutely nothing he could do about that. He turned and left without another word, but I knew he'd have his eye on me.

I muttered a curse, suddenly angry with myself even though I had no clear idea why.

"About the Labyrinth?" Clarisse asked out of nowhere. She looked almost nervous, fiddling with her hair and staring at the table.

"Yeah. It's fine, though. I mean, all demigods have nightmares, right?"

She snorted. "Yeah, but not all demigods give people death glares for asking questions. Even I can tell something's up, and that's saying something. What, do I have to get Silena in here to go all mind-reader on you?"

"I'm pretty sure that only works as far as romance is concerned," I said, amused despite the fact that I was determined to be grumpy.

"Eh. Just as long as I don't turn into a demon again."

I blinked. "Huh?"

Clarisse looked like she was regretting what she had just said. "You, uh, thought I was one. For a while."

Whatever hint of a good mood I'd had promptly vanished. "Oh. Of course," I sighed. "Sorry about… that." I could tell by the way she was looking at me that she was seeing me when I'd been insane.

Clarisse shrugged unhappily. She looked like she was deciding whether or not to say something. "Look, are you going to be okay?" she finally asked. "If it's really just nightmares, fine, but I don't want you to… relapse."

"What?" I asked, stunned. Did she really think I was losing my mind again? Had I been acting like that much of a psycho? "No! I mean yes! I'm really fine, okay? It's just nightmares. I mean, it was the Labyrinth. I can't just forget that, you know?"

Clarisse nodded. The expression on her face was the most un-Clarisse-like one I'd ever seen. "Okay," she said quietly. I could tell she didn't believe me.

_I _believed me, which wasn't something that happened that often. I knew I was sane. It was just trauma, or something like that. Post-traumatic stress disorder, or one of the billion and one other things that happened to people who fought in wars or experienced natural disasters or maybe got lost in an evil, sentient maze. Why not? And I hated the idea of Clarisse worrying about me for no reason.

"I promise I'll be okay," I said, looking right into her ever-alarming reddish eyes. "And I know that's not worth much coming from me, but it's the best I can do."

The look on her face said she was about to either kiss me or knock me out, and I couldn't tell which.

As it turned out, neither. She threw her arms around me, hugging me so tightly I was afraid she was going to crack my ribs. "I'll hold you to that, punk," she said in my ear.

**Yes, I'm aware I overuse italics. I can't help it.**

**I can't decide whether Chris is a hero, a tragic hero, or a woobie. Or possibly some combination thereof. Opinions?**

**Oh, and I made a DA account. The link's on my profile. And yes, I did attempt to draw Chris. I have a Clarisse too, but it's not colored yet. Fair warning: I, erm, write a lot better than I draw. It didn't come out in the same zip code as my actual mental image of Chris. Although I was quite pleased with the lighting, I must say. ;)**


	37. Because I'm a Nice Person

**Okay, so I got a little tired of just saying that people are swearing and trying to avoid using the actual words. So, yeah, Chris is going to get a little F-bomb-happy. If you really, really object to that, let me know and if enough people are bothered I'll probably take it out, but honestly, if you've made it this far I'm sort of assuming you can handle it.**

**Also, sorry for it pretty much just being a conversation, but I think it's important character development. Just bear with me here. ;)**

Funnily enough, strangling Travis wasn't the strangest way I'd woken up. It was up there, though.

I guess I didn't _wake up_ doing it, per se. More that he tripped over me and I jumped up and pinned him to the wall by his throat. Of course, he probably deserved it, considering that I'd been asleep behind the Demeter cabin and he was almost certainly trying to prank them. Still, I felt pretty bad once I woke up enough to figure out what the Hades was going on.

"Oh," I said guiltily. "Sorry, man."

"Ngh," said Travis, reminding me that I hadn't actually let him go yet. Both of his hands were prying unsuccessfully at one of my wrists. I dropped him hurriedly. He gulped in air, then, being Travis, used his first breath to curse spectacularly. "Come on, Chris. Now you have to tell me. You owe me. What is _with_ you?"

I suddenly developed a profound interest in the creepily vibrant grass at my feet. "… Um."

"Dude. We've already discussed the fact that you're a psycho, okay?" Both of us winced. "Okay, bad choice of words. You know what I mean."

"I really don't."

He gave me a serious, almost challenging, generally un-Stoll-like look. "I know exactly what's going on here, you know."

"Do tell," I sighed, somehow sure that I was about to be read the riot act. And by Travis Stoll, of all people. Things just got better and better.

"I'd be delighted to. Well, you've obviously been having nightmares since the Labyrinth; everyone knows that."

"Just how in Hades does everyone-?"

"Uh, probably because you fall asleep roughly ten million times a day and start muttering about monsters and Mary?"

"I didn't know I talked in my sleep," I said neutrally, trying and probably failing to hide my dismay.

"Now you do," Travis snapped. I drew back. I'd never actually seen either Stoll get pissed off before, but I guess I did sort of deserve it. Still, it was a little weird.

I sighed. "Go figure. Go on."

"I will. Now, I believe your story–"

"Wait, _story?_ Are you saying there are people who don't?" I protested, my temper flaring even though I knew it was irrational.

Travis gritted his teeth. "Chris. Shut. _Up._"

"Sorry."

"That's not shutting up."

"Sorry."

"That's not either."

"… Sorry?"

That time he gave me _the_ Look. "I swear, Rodriguez, I'll go get Clarisse."

I gulped and mimed zipping my lips. He tilted his head. "Huh, I didn't actually expect that to work. Good to know. Anyway. I believe you, and the fact that you haven't died horribly yet means the gods obviously know you're telling the truth, right? Dad claimed you, so he obviously cares about you. Everybody knows lone demigods never do well in the Labyrinth, so you couldn't be guilting yourself about screwing that up."

"Wanna bet?" I muttered, electing to forget his threat for a moment.

He ignored me. "Your nightmares aren't prophetic, so they aren't supposed to serve a purpose. Not a good one, at least. But you're obviously sane, relatively speaking at least. Which means it isn't psychosis, so any of the gods could fix it."

"Well, they obviously aren't, so a fat lot of good that does me."

"Exactly."

My heart sank as I started to figure out where he was going with this. "The gods are doing it? Why?"

Travis shook his head. "Not exactly. I mean, maybe, but that's not important."

"It's not important that the gods are actively out to get me? I find that pretty damn important."

"That's not the point. They obviously don't want you dead or insane, or you would be, wouldn't you?" I winced. Dionysus would never let me forget I owed him. "The point is that they _could_ help you, but they aren't."

"And you think you know why."

His expression was either disapproving or amused, and I couldn't tell which. "They want something, don't they? I mean, I can guess, but you probably know better than I do."

I didn't. Everything he had said made sense, but I had no clue. Maybe they just didn't want to interfere? But no, no matter what they said, the gods could never resist interfering. Maybe I'd only met Hermes once, but somehow I knew he'd help me if he could. So one of the other Olympians was stopping him. Most likely someone I'd pissed off.

Well, that sure narrowed it down.

I scowled. "Either Athena's mad at me for dissing her– wait, no, that was just the other day. Okay, scratch Athena. Unless she's mad at me for yelling at Annabeth… but everyone yells at Annabeth, so probably not. I don't think I've done anything to piss off the Big Three, except maybe Poseidon when I almost killed Percy. But Clarisse has almost killed him way more times than I have, and she's fine…"

Travis blinked. "You really have to _think_ about which Olympian might hate you? Dude, how are you still alive?"

"Luck, mostly. I guess I sort of wasn't the nicest to that Demeter kid… I don't know what I could have done to Hera… or Hephaestus…"

"How about Ares?"

"Oh yeah," I said slowly. How could I ever forget good old Ares? He had probably been the one who talked Zeus into forbidding Hermes from helping me– I decided to give Hermes the benefit of the doubt and assume that he would actually want to help in the first place– and I'd done just enough to piss off the rest of the Council that they decided to go along with it.

Or more likely it wasn't a Council issue at. In fact, there was no chance it was, I realized. I wasn't that important. Ares could just convince Zeus that I held no respect for the gods. It wouldn't be hard, since it was pretty much true. Zeus, egotistical metaphorical-bastard that he was, would agree that I needed to be taught a lesson and forbid Hermes from interfering. So here I was, getting maybe two hours of sleep a night.

"So basically," I said, "You're saying that either Hermes doesn't want to help me or someone's preventing him from doing it."

Travis looked a little nervous, presumably not hugely enthusiastic about agreeing with a statement like that. "Uh…"

"And they want an apology before they'll stop."

He bit his lip. "Pretty much, yeah."

I considered it. "Well, fuck that."

"Chris," Travis groaned. "You have got to be kidding me. We're sort of fighting a war here. We need every man we have. Can't you just suck it up so you'll be able to fight?"

I glared. "Okay, two things. Number one, I can fight perfectly well right now, thanks. Number two, what do you mean _we_ need every man we have? Who are we fighting for? _They_ need _us._ They're the ones who need to suck it up."

Travis looked like he was considering a facepalm. "You want the gods to come crawling to you."

"Sounds about right, yeah."

"You are completely insane."

I raised an eyebrow and turned to walk away. I was pretty sure I'd already missed most of lunch. "Nice."

"I mean it." I ignored him. His footsteps came after me a second later, and he jumped in front of me just as I rounded the corner to the front of the Demeter cabin. "What do you think would've happened if you'd had a sword when I tripped over you?"

I'd been about to shove him out of my way, but I froze. I hadn't thought of that, but I knew the answer. There was a pretty good chance I would have killed him.

"Look, I know the gods can be a little… unfair," he said, glancing over his shoulder nervously. "We all know that, and you got screwed over big time, and I'm really sorry, but… it's not just them we're fighting for, you know? Can't you swallow your pride and help save the world?"

"Save the world, huh?" I muttered. "You think I'm going to make a difference? I'm not any kind of a leader. No one would even notice if I wasn't there when it all goes down. I'm not prophesized to decide the fate of a godsdamned thing."

"Neither am I," he said frostily. I was pretty sure I detected a bit of resentment there, which I decided not to call him out on because I was a nice person.

"Not the prophecy, no," I pointed out. "Leader, yes. It'd be pretty obvious if you were gone. You've got a whole cabin to keep up the morale of, the biggest one in camp."

Travis appeared to consider strangling me and think better of it, probably for several reasons. "And that's what I'm trying to do right now, you dumbass. You're not really helping. I don't know if you've noticed, but people look up to you."

"Yeah? Who?"

"Uh, about half the younger kids in our cabin? The ones who got here after you left, and a bunch who were here before. I know a lot of kids left, but they all bailed after a few months of being unclaimed. People actually knew you. You and Luke were like legends. Luke still is, I guess."

I snorted. "What, like 'how not to be a demigod' kind of legends? Down in infamy?"

"Maybe a little. But not after you came back." He sighed. "Honestly, Chris, do you think anyone takes Connor and I seriously as counselors? Everyone knows you'd be a better one."

"I'm flattered, but I sincerely doubt that." We arrived at the dining pavilion and got our food. I caught his pointed glance at me as we walked up to the fire pit. I ignored it, scraping some food into the flames and muttering Hermes' name. I'd pay enough respect to avoid getting killed, but I'd beg when Tartarus froze over.

"I'm serious," Travis said as we sat down, a few other kids scooting down to make room.

"So am I. Look, if I wanted to be counselor, you know I'd have challenged you already," I replied, lowering my voice even though there was no chance the other occupants of the table were listening. "And kicked your ass, too. Both of you together."

"Keep telling yourself that, pal. Honestly, though, you know we're not cut out for this. We play pranks on people. What are we supposed to do during a war? When people start dying even more than they already are? I can't just lead people into that!" His voice rose, then he took a deep breath. "Chris, _why_ don't you want to be counselor?"

Because I just don't feel like it, I thought. That was what I'd always told myself before. Because I wasn't cut out for responsibility. Definitely not responsibility for other people. Little kids. Because I'd been given that burden before. I couldn't go through that again. Not a chance.

Ah, I realized. _That_ was why.

So I was going to let Travis do it instead? That wasn't very brave. That was downright cowardly. Would I be a better leader? I honestly didn't know. I was a better fighter, I knew that, but that wasn't everything. I took things a little more seriously. I didn't really think things through, but I was still better about it than the Stolls. But they were likable. Charismatic, maybe. You couldn't help wanting them to succeed in whatever crazy stunt they were trying to pull that day. Maybe I drew people's sympathy, despite my efforts to the contrary, but loyalty? Unlikely.

"Because you're better at it," I said, confident that I wasn't lying. "People follow you. Besides, you know now's a pretty awful time for a switch. And you said it yourself, some kids still think I'm a traitor."

"Well, I mean–"

"It's cool, all right? I might not believe me if I were someone else. I've only got one more year here, and anyway, since when have I given a damn about what anyone else thinks?"

"Very few damns have been given," he observed, half his slice of pizza vanishing in one bite.

"Exactly. You'll do fine. And I know I never listen to you, but I'll be there when it matters. I'll probably be drop-dead exhausted, but I'll be there."

He rolled his eyes. "You know, I think I get why you and Clarisse get along so well. Although the world's gonna end the first time you argue."

"Get along so well?" I repeated incredulously. "I swear she's given me more scars than all the monsters I've ever fought. And in all modesty, that's saying something."

Travis snickered. "I think that means she likes you. Like Beckendorf says, right? You know a girl likes you when she tries to kill you."

"She must like a lot of people."

"Not enough to train with them every day. And that's another reason you should try to get the gods to help you."

I tilted my head. "I'm not sure I follow."

"What do you think'll happen if Clarisse gets depressed or something? The Ares cabin follows her like a fat kid does cake, and I hate to admit this, but we kind of need them. War being their thing and all."

"Nice simile."

"Thanks. The whole cabin was pretty out of it while you were gone. If Clarisse is, they all are. And somehow, I think you getting murdered by a monster would ruin her whole day. My point here is that you've got influence, even if it's not the kind you want. And a responsibility not to get yourself killed."

And there was that word again. Responsibility. I wanted nothing to do with it. I chose to ignore the fact that the only power I had in camp was really Clarisse's. I got where Travis was going with it, though. It didn't matter that I was just another camper. Maybe one of the bigger, more experienced ones, but rank and file nonetheless. This was an army of teenagers, volatile kids who didn't know better than to rely on each other completely. I was maybe the only one who'd been hit hard enough to learn better, although I could think of a few certain people whose deaths would devastate me. Still, the demigods were basically dominoes. I was no different than anyone else. I just happened to occupy an important position. Namely, one of few people that Clarisse cared about. I could still hardly believe it, but I couldn't deny it anymore.

Which meant that if I went down, she went down, the Ares cabin went down, the demigods went down, the gods went down, the West went down, and everybody went down.

I blinked. "Damn."

Now if only the gods would realize the same thing, if it were actually true and I wasn't just flattering myself, which was a definite possibility. Because I still wasn't going to apologize. I wouldn't let the world burn for my pride, but I wasn't giving up that easily.

**Hmm, yup. We'll see how well that goes. Reviews are like chocolate: the more you give… something. I was going somewhere with that, I swear. So, yeah, review. For chocolate.**


	38. To Know Where This Is Going

**Yup. I suck. I know. I was on vacation, if you care. But now I'm back, so let the belligerent sexual tension commence! (It's a TV trope, FYI. I stumbled across that page and was like, this was **_**written**_** for Chrisse.)**

**Lulz, this one should be quite entertaining. And you thought he had bad judgment before…**

**Please excuse my chapter title. I feel like a bad person, but I couldn't resist.**

"I heard Hermes was coming," Clarisse remarked, giving me a casual smack in the gut with her spear handle.

I jumped back quickly enough to take most of the force out of the blow, but not all, conscious of the littler kids training on the other side of the arena. "What, today?" I gasped, more because she'd knocked the wind out of me than because I was surprised. "How come?"

She gave me a look. "Dunno. Carrying a message, maybe?"

"Oh yeah."

"And Chiron wants me to carry some crates up from the cellar." Something in her voice told me there was more to that sentence than was immediately obvious, but pursuing it didn't strike me as the best option. I kept my mouth shut, but she kept talking anyway, making it a bit of a moot point. "And he obviously knows you'll offer to help me–"

"I will?" I interrupted, feeling a bit taken for granted.

Clarisse glared, waving her spear threateningly. I gulped and took a step back. "You better. I think he wants you at the Big House so you'll talk to Hermes."

"I'd talk to him anyway," I said, confused. "Why wouldn't I? Chiron doesn't need to trick me into it."

"Would you really listen to Hermes if he sought you out, though?" she asked knowingly, sketching a few stars in the sand with her spear.

I was about to ask her exactly what it was I needed to listen to him about, but as soon as the thought crossed my mind I realized I knew the answer. I had decided to mention Travis' little theory about my nightmares to Clarisse, figuring I owed it to her given the rare concern she'd shown for my mental state.

"Gods damn it, Clarisse," I groaned. "Not you too."

She tilted her head. "Not me, what?"

"Not you telling me I should ask the gods for forgiveness when I didn't do anything wrong," I grumbled.

I'd been about to say I hadn't done anything to them, but I supposed that wasn't technically true. Still, going against Olympus and being immoral weren't the same thing, even though no one but me seemed to realize that. It was starting to piss me off quite a bit, actually.

"You think I'm gonna tell you to _apologize?"_ Clarisse growled, her voice sounding more indignant than angry.

"Well, I sort of–"

"Apologizing," she cut me off, "Is for _losers. _I don't know who it was on Olympus that decided they didn't like your attitude, but whoever it is, they need an attitude adjustment of their own. I figured the same thing as Travis, you know. I'm happy you're sticking it to them. Somebody needed to."

I stared at her for a few seconds, trying to figure out how to reply to that. Before I could think better of it, I grinned and gave her a hug.

"You're the best, you know that?" I declared. "I swear, the next person who tells me to apologize gets punched in the face."

"I'll punch_ you_ in the face," she muttered darkly, wriggling away from me and throwing a kick at my leg for good measure. "And what if it's Hermes?"

I considered that. "Technically he's a god, so he doesn't count. And, uh, not punching me would be highly appreciated."

"Help me with the crates and we'll see."

I laughed and let her drag me to the Big House for the second time in as many months. It was weird to think it was August already, and the summer-only campers would be going home pretty soon. I guess my sense of time had gotten a little screwed up. Go figure.

Clarisse opened the red hatchway doors by the Big House's back porch. I didn't really pay attention to my surroundings until I was most of the way down the steps and she pulled the doors shut with a _bang,_ muttering something about cooling costs. The stripe of bright light I had been standing in vanished abruptly. I froze.

"Oh…" Clarisse's voice trailed off.

"It's so dark," I whispered.

I knew what was happening. But I couldn't do anything about it. I felt myself sway, my heart pounding, barely registering Clarisse's curse somewhere behind me. I took a step in what I hoped was the direction of the wall and let myself fall against the stone. I refused to pass out. I knew where I was. Not in the maze. The maze was gone.

Except it wasn't. _My_ Labyrinth wasn't gone. It was here. This was the well where the darkness had almost drowned me, where Mary had saved my life. Or maybe not the real well, but I had relived it here a thousand times.

"Chris?" said Clarisse.

_Remember. Please_, said Mary. No. Clarisse said that, here. Mary was dead. I left her in the arena. How could I have _done_ that? How did I just run away and leave her there when I knew Antaeus took trophies? What if her skull had grinned down at the next person to stumble through? Except it wouldn't be just a skull. Not for years…

I jumped at least a foot when something touched my shoulder. Clarisse. It was only Clarisse. We were just in a basement. Not in the maze. The maze was gone. Somehow. Who had told me that? I didn't remember. How did they know? What if they were wrong? For all I knew, this could be–

It wasn't. The basement. It was just the basement. It had to be.

The next thing I knew, I was blinking in the sunlight. Clarisse shoved my back again, pushing me up the last step. I stared at the ground, making sure I had a firm grip on reality before I opened my mouth. I could feel Clarisse's stare boring into me.

"So… you okay?" she finally asked.

"Apparently I'm scared of the dark," I muttered ruefully, running a hand though my hair. "Great. Just fantastic. Should be fun to add to my résumé. We can chalk it up next to my claustrophobia and irrational fear of drowning and–"

"Bees," Clarisse said.

"Huh?"

"Don't forget the bees." I could tell she was freaked out, but I still got the sneaking feeling she was trying hard not to laugh.

"Right," I sighed defeatedly. "Wouldn't want to forget the bees."

"That was sort of my fault," Clarisse said out of nowhere.

"What, that I don't like bees?"

She smirked. "Don't like them? Nicely phrased. Who, exactly, _likes_ bees?"

I considered it. "Beekeepers. Flowers. Other bees, sometimes. And Pixar, for whatever reason."

I earned an eye roll worthy of Annabeth Chase for that particular comment. "Whatever. What I meant was, I don't think you're actually scared of the dark. Not that badly, I guess. Dunno if it's a good idea to tell you this, but you were down there before Dionysus healed you. You probably remembered that."

I stared at her. "Why in _Hades,_" I asked calmly, "Did someone think it was a good idea to put me in the basement? A dark, underground room with stone walls? Gee, I wonder what that might remind me of?"

Clarisse looked a bit lost for an answer. "Um… I don't actually know. I didn't make that call. But then you wouldn't come out."

"Wouldn't come out?" I protested. "There are, what, twenty-five year-round campers? It wasn't worth it to get a few people together and, I don't know, _make_ me come out so I wasn't _sitting in a basement_ while I was convinced I was trapped underground?Plus a centaur and a god, who… wait a minute."

"What?" Clarisse asked slowly.

I narrowed my eyes. "I was brought back to camp in the winter, right?"

"Yeah."

"Dionysus cured me once he got back from checking on… something, right? Because he was in a good mood, as he won't stop reminding me?"

"… Yeah? He said you deserved a second chance."

"Why then, though? I didn't deserve a second chance when I first came back to camp? What the fuck was he checking on that took him six months?"

I could see the exact moment that Clarisse realized what I was trying to say, mostly because she suddenly looked absolutely furious.

"He refused to help me at first, didn't he?" I asked, knowing I'd have been happier if I just let it go, but I couldn't.

Clarisse couldn't seem to decide between rage and shame. "I tried everything. He insisted you were a traitor. I was afraid if I went too far he'd just kill you… I hoped he would help once it was obvious you'd die if he didn't, but you didn't hit that point 'til he'd already left. And even then I think it was only because Castor died."

I nodded slowly. "So he was going to quite literally let me die in a hole because it wasn't worth ten seconds of his time to see what really happened."

She stabbed her spear into the grass. It would have looked absentminded if not for the fact that it buried itself at least a foot deep. "Pretty much."

"And now Olympus wants an apology because I don't respect them enough."

"Guess so."

I looked up at the sky, hoping at least a few deities were paying attention and wishing I could have seen their expressions when I gave them the most heartfelt middle finger of my life.

Clarisse raised an eyebrow. "You just picked a fight with Olympus."

"Olympus picked a fight with me," I growled, considering kicking the metal hatch doors for good measure but deciding against it.

"Whatever." She gave me another look like she was trying not to laugh. "Honestly, I've seen people stick it to deities before, but not all of them at once. Oh, this is gonna be _good._"

So she supposedly cries when I almost die, I thought bemusedly, but laughs when I pretty much actively seek death. Clarisse was a strange person.

"And just who might that have been directed at, Craig Robinson?" a voice behind me said.

Dionysus and Hermes stood on the Big House's back porch, Dionysus glaring at me over the immaculate white railing, Hermes looking like he was seriously considering a facepalm.

I could lie. I should lie. I was shading my eyes. A bird looked at me funny. The Stoll brothers were on the roof.

"You," I said nonchalantly. "And the rest of Olympus. Maybe not Hermes. I'm not really sure."

Hermes' palm hit his forehead with an audible _smack._

"I think we need to talk, Robertson."

I scowled. "That's not my last name."

"Rokowski?"

"Do I look like a Rokowski to you?"

He gave me a long look, dark purple eyes squinting from under bushy black eyebrows. "… Garcia?"

"Seriously?" I said flatly.

"Statistics," the god said. "Sue me. Now if you two would give us a minute?"

Neither Hermes nor Clarisse looked particularly enthusiastic about that idea. Clarisse's eyes actually darted to her spear, jammed into the ground next to her.

"Hermes, don't you think Lord Zeus will have something to say to your son here if I don't?" Mr. D said deliberately. "I _am_ the camp director, after all."

Hermes wore the same expression as he had in the Labyrinth, like both of us were in a lose-lose situation and there was nothing he could do about it.

"You really think Zeus is concerned?" he asked quietly. "All he said was–"

All four of us winced at the loudest clap of thunder I'd heard in my life. I bit my lip. I knew I was in the right, but for the first time I wondered if I'd finally gone too far.

"I'd say yes," Dionysus replied airily. "Very."

Hermes still didn't look sure.

"Oh, I won't kill him," the wine god continued, waving his hand. Hermes and I raised a slanted eyebrow simultaneously. "Or destroy his sanity. Again."

I seriously considered asking for a Styx oath on that, but I doubted that would go over all too well.

"I should hope so," Hermes finally said. "I hope we can talk later today, Christopher." I took the second sentence to mean, _I'll check and make sure you're still alive._

I nodded. He glanced around one more time, throwing an interested glance at Clarisse, before vanishing in a burst of light that I was a fraction of a second away from getting fried by. I really needed to remember that gods could murder me completely by accident just by existing.

"And you, Clementine," Mr. D said darkly. "You can… hook up later, or whatever it is you young people do these days."

We both stared at him.

"It _is_ 'hook up,' right? It changes so fast."

"Last time I checked," I muttered, resisting the urge to roll my eyes. My case probably couldn't get much worse at this point, but still. "See ya, Clementine."

She didn't seem any keener on leaving than Hermes had been. To my surprise, she didn't even give me a death glare for calling her Clementine. "I, um…"

"It's fine," I insisted. "I'll see you at dinner, okay?"

"Yeah," she said carefully, pulling her spear out of the ground. "Okay." She walked away slowly, glancing over her shoulder before she'd gone twenty paces. Mr. D and I stood watching her, him unreadable, me trying to ignore the tiny bit of nervousness I couldn't quite conquer. He didn't scare me. Not a bit.

I felt the irrational urge to draw my sword. It couldn't have helped me, of course, but I would have felt better. But he promised not to hurt me, I told myself. Wait. No he didn't. He promised not to _kill_ me. Not the same thing. And he didn't swear on anything, which means if he loses it for two seconds I'm done.

"So," I said carefully, "What was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

Dionysus ignored me for just long enough to piss me off, staring out across the strawberry fields. I stood as far away as I thought I could get away with, shifting uncomfortably on the slats of the porch, trying to remember exactly what I'd said and wondering how much he heard.

"You think that I owed it to you to save you?" the god finally said, still not deigning to look at me. His voice was the kind of quiet that meant he was either messing with me or about to murder me on the spot. Or both.

I glared at the side of his head. "Do you expect me to fight against Kronos' army?"

"I most certainly do. You _do_ owe me your life, after all."

I scowled, realizing he was trying to trick me. "But you expected me to fight even before then, right? And it's not just me, anyway. You're going to turn the camp into an army."

"I suppose," he said evenly. "Although I believe it's unspoken. You're the first demigod to express anything less than the utmost enthusiasm about dying for us."

I wasn't entirely sure what to make of that statement. He started to turn toward me, and I turned away, gazing at the fields that had so enthralled him a second ago. They really weren't all that exciting, although a Demeter camper would undoubtedly disagree. Violently. I smirked, realizing a second later that doing so probably wasn't the best move I could have made.

"If we're supposed to die for you– whether you force us to fight, or just raise us to believe it's our duty– then yes, I do think you owed it to me to save me," I finally said. "As soon as I was found, not when you were 'felt nice' six months later." In the corner of my eye, Mr. D nodded, although whether it was mocking or not I couldn't tell.

"But you weren't going to fight. You left."

We finally faced each other when I turned to glare at him. "I crossed the border by accident. In six months, you never even bothered to find out why I left."

He frowned. "There was a bit of a pattern, you see. Heroes are all the same, and don't you _dare_ try to tell me otherwise. " His eyes showed a sudden flash of anger that even I wasn't going to argue with. "In the four years you'd been at this camp–"

"Six."

"I don't care. Do not interrupt me again," he said quietly, and this time I was pretty damn sure it was the dangerous kind of quiet. I found myself taking a step back, and was instantly furious at myself for it. "In the five years you had been at this camp, you never showed the slightest glimmer of promise; of loyalty to–"

"Those aren't the same thing!" I broke in, suddenly not caring that he told me not to interrupt two seconds ago. "And just what the Hades did you expect me to show loyalty _to?_ I was ten when I got here! You can't just give a kid nothing, not even an identity, and expect them to follow you to the death!"

I guess I was fortunate that I crossed the line twice, pissing him off so much that he wouldn't kill me without arguing with me first. Still, the purple glow in his eyes promised that I had just landed myself in some very serious trouble.

"Nothing?" Dionysus whispered. "We gave you a home. Where would you have been without us? On the streets, with monsters hunting you?"

"They'd only hunt me because I was a demigod! And Olympus _does_ owe me a home, whether or not I want to die for you! That's what parents fucking _do!_"

Dionysus and I glared at each other. I had always figured the phrase "trembling with rage" was just a metaphor, but I was pretty sure I was actually shaking, my hands balled into fists. I knew I had to calm down before I got myself killed, but I honestly didn't think I could do it. I had finally found the words for what I'd felt for seven years, and I was overcome with the sudden desire to punch a god in the face. Again.

"Interesting flaws for a son of Hermes," Mr. D finally said. His voice was almost a whisper, making my shout seem louder than it had really been. Stupider. More childish. "I don't think I've ever seen a demigod with more potential to get himself killed. Temper… a total inability to choose your battles… and of course the classics: arrogance and entitlement."

I broke his gaze and stared at the floor, feeling browbeaten even though what he said shouldn't have bothered me. I knew all that, didn't I? And didn't that apply to me and every other teenage boy on the planet? Still, it was unnerving to suddenly have someone standing in front of me, reeling off everything that was wrong with me.

"Why'd you keep me around, then? Why not send me out of camp, or back into the maze?" I asked harshly, more just to see what he would say than anything else. "Hades, you could've just slit my throat and called it a mercy kill."

"Well, number one," he sighed, "Your little girlfriend there probably would have led a revolution and overthrown Olympus. And two, Chiron wouldn't have it, and the old horse can be infuriating to argue with."

Chiron? I hadn't even thought of that. I supposed I should have been grateful to him for not letting me get thrown out. But all I could think was, he settled for letting me sob in the corner of the basement for six months? That was an acceptable compromise to him?

Did either of them have any idea what those months had done to me? Did anyone? How could I possibly have any self-respect when I knew, _everyone_ knew, how completely pathetic I was just a layer under the surface? How could I trust my own mind? How could anyone trust me? But that wouldn't matter to them. Chiron, maybe, if he realized it, but he obviously hadn't, or if he did he didn't do anything about it.

Gods cared about their own kids, at least sometimes, I realized. But not others'. Not a bit. Hermes would probably look out for me to some degree– unless I'd finally pushed it too far and even he was done with me, which I wouldn't really blame him for– but to the rest of them, I was disposable, just like every other hero. Hermes probably wouldn't care if Clarisse died, except maybe to feel sorry for me. Athena wouldn't shed any tears over Percy. Why should they care if I wanted to go to college or get a job or get married or whatever? Even though, I realized suddenly, I had no idea what college I wanted to go to. When were applications due? I didn't know that either. Chiron had to think about those things, right? Or was it just assumed I'd die before the end of what would've been my senior year, the school year that was just about to start? Hades, that was pretty much what _I'd_ been led to assume; that the only relevance my life had was being on call to serve Olympus.

Cool it, I told myself. They're thousands of years old. They can't be expected to empathize with teen angst, which is exactly what this is. Right? Of course, if they don't understand us at all then I don't really know what right they have to expect us to serve as their army…

They don't _understand_ _us?_ I thought drily. What are you, thirteen? Are you going to start scribbling emotional poems in notebooks and cutting your wrists, Chris? It's a little late for that, don't you think? Cut the drama, moron.

I sighed, suddenly quite done arguing. I didn't remember what the last thing that had been said was, anyway.

"Well?"

"Huh?" I asked distractedly. I was hungry, too.

Dionysus gave me a strange look. "Zeus, they're not kidding when they say you can't focus. I said I'm too bored with you to punish you for your disrespect. For now, anyway. Of course, I can't speak for the rest of Olympus."

"Sure," I muttered, not quite liking the way he smiled when he said that. It was like he was somehow very sure that another god or goddess was planning something nasty. Were the Olympians telepathic or something? It wouldn't have surprised me. Not for the first time, I wondered whether they could read minds. Dionysus almost certainly could, I realized, my stomach sinking. He'd gone thought my memories when he woke me up. I hadn't been terribly bothered by that before, but suddenly I hated him for it.

"Now go away," Mr. D snapped.

"Gladly." I vaulted over the railing, figuring that one last bit of insolence would round off the discussion nicely. Or at least it would have, if not for what felt suspiciously like a grape vine twining around my ankle as I jumped, sending me tumbling over the railing with a surprised yelp. I could have caught myself, but the vine jerked me to the side at the last second, cracking my head against the side of the deck and disorienting me enough that I landed on my face.

I should have known he wouldn't let me leave without doing something like that, I thought testily, rubbing my temple where I'd smacked it and somehow numbly unsurprised when there was blood on my fingers. Still, I preferred getting attacked by his grape-related powers than his madness-inducing ones.

"Have a wonderful evening," came Mr. D's smug voice from above me. The Big House door closed with a decisive slam.

"And a wonderful evening to you too, you son of a bitch," I muttered.

The vine, which I realized with dismay hadn't actually let go of me yet, tightened around my ankle. I gritted my teeth, trying to pull free, but of course it was impossible. I reached for my sword. My heart fell when I found thin air. I looked around, cursing when I realized it had fallen from its sheath when I fell over the railing. I could tell it was just out of my reach, and I knew Dionysus would stop me somehow if I tried to grab it, anyway.

I kicked at the vine with my free foot. I felt the beginning of something that felt weirdly like fear fluttering in my stomach.

It'll stop, I promised myself. He wouldn't actually hurt me. Ouch. Even though he was perfectly content to let me die, and I basically just called his mother a bitch. How did he even _hear_ that?

Ow. _Ow. Fuck._

I twisted against the vine desperately, trying unsuccessfully to stand up, which of course made it worse. Still, it was just a vine. It wasn't like it could–

There was a crack that couldn't possibly have been anything other than my ankle breaking. I yelled, more out of surprise than pain. It wasn't exactly the worst pain I'd ever felt, I told myself.

Sure, the other half of my brain grumped back. But getting stung by a giant scorpion and dropped thirty feet doesn't mean breaking a bone is _fun. _What was that, anyway, my fourth in a little over a year? If not more, because I had no clue how many ribs I'd broken when the giant tried to teach me how to fly, and I probably broke a few in the maze that I didn't even remember. Wow. Fun year.

"Oops," came Dionysus' dry voice. I looked up, and sure enough, there he was, looking down at me from the porch. I hadn't even heard the door open. He'd probably walked through it or something.

I glared wordlessly and grabbed the bottom of the railing, intending to pull myself to my feet. I fell back to the ground a split second later, cursing vehemently. He _still_ hadn't made the vine go away, so I had basically just twisted a broken ankle.

A mean smirk danced on the corner of his lips. "Well?"

"Well, what?" I snapped. It came out a little louder than I'd intended it to. I didn't really know why I was as angry as I was. I should have seen this coming, shouldn't I? Except I wasn't really angry. I was scared. Not of Dionysus. It was the fact that I couldn't get away that terrified me.

Oh, _brilliant. _Another phobia. Chalk one up for the home team.

And he could tell, too. He stared at me like a cat at a mouse, highly amused and fully aware that _I_ was aware that he could kill me horribly and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it.

"Well, do you have anything to say?" the god asked slowly. "It sounded like you did."

"Don't think so, no," I replied, pulling at the vine with both hands even though it was wrapped around my ankle so tightly I couldn't really get a grip on it. I sensed what felt suspiciously like a frustrated sob welling up in my throat and swallowed it furiously, replacing it with a growl. Not a chance. Not a chance in Hades.

I gasped when another vine whipped around my forearm, slamming it against the ground and tightening painfully.

"No?" he asked innocently.

"Nope," I hissed through gritted teeth, wondering if he was going to break my arm too. Not that it was really a difficult question. Of course he would. And he kept tightening the first vine. He wasn't just breaking my ankle; he was shattering it. Would he give up when he got a yell out of me, or was he holding out for an apology? Because the former was only a matter of time, but the latter? Not so much.

Hey, Hermes? I thought. Remember how you said you were going to check on me? Now would be a fantastic time. Two minutes ago would've been better, but right now would still be just dandy.

"Dionysus?"

I glanced up hopefully, even though the voice definitely wasn't Hermes'. Chiron, I realized after a second.

"Weren't you going to play pinochle? I have the…" His voice trailed off as he noticed me sprawled on the grass, trying to maintain as much dignity as possible while basically being held prisoner by a plant.

"I did say I wouldn't kill him," Dionysus shrugged.

Chiron blinked. "Indeed. But perhaps, considering that there's a war on, you should avoid injuring him as well. In body or morale," he added pointedly.

Morale? It would have taken a lot more than not getting _another_ bone broken to restore my morale at that point.

Dionysus scowled. The vine around my arm tightened. As if just to spite me, my arm fractured with a splintering crack that felt exactly like it sounded. I gaped silently, collapsing onto my back and hoping neither of them was paying attention to me, because there was no way in Hades I could keep a straight face anymore. This one hurt more, for whatever reason. Much more. It felt like shards of bone were shredding my arm.

"He injured _my _morale," Dionysus sniffed.

Chiron took a patient breath. "And how was that?"

"Largely by acting like a brat."

I was a brat? _I_ was a brat? I didn't go around breaking people's bones when they pissed me off! Not on purpose, at least.

"He _is_ a teenager," the centaur pointed out. "I believe it's somewhere in the contract."

"Oh, har har," Dionysus said, irritated. Or at least I assumed he was, because a third vine snaked over my wrist. My eyes widened. I choked back a yelp and pulled my arm away before it could tighten. I almost screamed when one brushed against the side of my neck. He wouldn't. He couldn't. He wasn't even paying attention. But the vine just twined around my shoulder, pulling me to the ground again. I breathed a sigh of relief, which turned into a gasp when it pulled taut, skipping straight over the psyching-me-out stage and right to the breaking-my-bone part.

Chiron turned to me again. He frowned, and I realized I must have looked on the verge of a panic attack, pale and tense. I doubted he realized I was actually hurt, though.

"I think you've made your point," he said sharply. At first, it didn't sound very different from the tone he used when campers got out of line, but it slowly occurred to me that he was _pissed._

Dionysus sneered. "I doubt it. But fine. Whatever. Pinochle."

And just like that, they both went inside and the vines fell away.

I stayed on the ground, trying to get my breathing under control and wondering what the Hades I was supposed to do now. I couldn't exactly go to the infirmary. Which didn't really matter if I couldn't walk. I supposed I'd find out.

I was lucky, relatively speaking, that Chiron had stopped him before my right arm was broken, too. I pulled myself up using the porch, balancing on the leg without the broken ankle and reflecting crazily that the sky was the color of Clarisse's armor in the firelight. My sword was a few steps away, but fortunately close enough to the porch that I could probably get it without letting go. Although those few steps would be tricky.

Or impossible.

I got my sword eventually, mostly through a combination of hopping and using the deck to support myself, but my broken ankle couldn't take any weight at all. Even with my sword as a crutch, I wasn't going anywhere.

I slashed at the grass angrily and hoped Hermes would show up soon, cursing Olympus with every stab of pain from my arm and my ankle. I didn't really know why I made an exception for Hermes. I just assumed he was on my side, I guess. What if he wasn't, though? There was no guarantee he'd help me. Hades, there was probably some kind of a rule about that. _No god could fix an injury caused by another god,_ just like _no one can act on knowledge about the future,_ unless it was convenient of course, such as, I don't know, a prophecy deciding the fate of Olympus.

I listened to the noise floating up from the pavilion as dinner began, not even trying to stay calm or be reasonable. I was done being reasonable. Annabeth had killed Kelli, or so I'd heard; Percy had killed Antaeus and was fated to destroy Kronos, maybe; the godling in the maze was probably still out there somewhere; even the Daedalus and the Labyrinth had been destroyed while I was out for the count. I never settled my own scores, if they were settled at all.

I mean, maybe I'd sort of been asking for it in this case, but that wasn't the point. Yeah, I should have known I was going to get hurt. That didn't mean I didn't have a point. Dionysus had won that argument for one reason and one reason only: he could hurt me and I couldn't hurt him. Sure, I had disrespected him, but why did I owe him respect? He was no better than me. Stronger, sure, but not better.

This was pretty much the final straw. If the universe was determined to mess with me, it was high time I messed back.

Except I was still stuck here, leaning against the porch and working myself up into a helpless rage. Dionysus probably knew it, too. He'd just be sitting there with that smug little smile while Chiron beat him at pinochle, knowing they were the only two in earshot and I'd die before I asked him for help.

Just when I was seriously considering screaming at the top of my lungs and slashing the porch apart, I happened to notice someone crossing the strawberry fields, coming from the direction of the pavilion. Someone very familiar.

I stared at the ground as Clarisse drew closer. "What're you doing here?" I muttered.

"You said you'd see me at dinner," she said simply. "I doubted you'd really be there. Oh, and I brought some nectar and ambrosia. Grape vines, right?"

Half of me wanted to hug her again, but something distracted me. "Wait, how did you know that? Did he…?"

Clarisse shrugged. "I may have pissed him off a bit in the course of begging for your life."

I gaped at her, in total disbelief. First of all, I couldn't believe Clarisse would actually beg on my behalf. Clarisse La Rue did not _beg._ And number two, Dionysus had hurt her. Funny how just when I thought I was as furious at him as I could possibly be, something like this happened. I was way beyond yelling at him. Hades, I was past the walking-in-and-slicing-his-head-off-execution-style stage. Launching him into space with no life support and a smile sounded perfect right about now.

Clarisse's eyes narrowed. "Get rid of that look."

"What look?" I asked flatly, not really listening.

"The homicidal one."

Oh. _That_ look.

"Look, you'd have been pretty pissed if I tried to come to your rescue, right? Same thing. If you want to fight your own battles, let me fight mine." She tossed me a canteen of ambrosia. Like an idiot, I caught it with my broken arm. "Oops," Clarisse said guiltily as I cursed.

"Don't worry about it. It's not just the vines," I began. "It's the whole… I don't know," I trailed off with a sigh, realizing I didn't really want to talk about it. Not even to Clarisse. I still didn't know whether I was just being dramatic or not, and I wanted to sleep on it before I started climbing on the soapbox.

Sleep on it. Ha-ha. That would have been nice.

Whatever. There was plenty of time to be pissed off later.

"Thanks for the nectar, Clementine," I smirked.

She rolled her eyes, ducking under my arm so that I was leaning on her. Between the nectar and Clarisse taking my weight, I finally managed to let go of the porch. We set off in the direction of the cabins.

"You know, if you weren't already hurt, I'd send you to the infirmary for that."

"Oh, I'm aware," I said innocently. "That's why I'm saying it now."

"Punk. So what did you say to Dionysus?" Clarisse asked curiously.

I thought back, realizing that I wasn't quite as angry anymore about everything that had happened. "Oh, you know. Dropped an F-bomb, called him a son of a bitch…"

"'Course you did," Clarisse replied. I could practically hear the eye roll in her voice. "Did Hermes ever come back?"

"Nope." Honestly, the fact that he'd forgotten about me didn't even bother me at that point. He probably had something or someone more important to worry about. At least he'd never broken my bones. Funny how everything was relative.

"You want to go to Cabin Eleven?"

"The beach," I said. "There's no way I'm climbing a ladder to the top bunk. I could use a full night's sleep for once, anyway." I knew I needed a splint or a cast or something, but I didn't really care. Chiron would probably have to rebreak the bones tomorrow. But then he'd probably realize how they got broken in the first place, which I didn't particularly want. Then again, I also didn't want to walk with a limp for the rest of my life. Whatever. I could figure that out tomorrow.

If only the Sound had been to the west instead of the east, I mused. The sunset over the water would have been pretty. The sunrise was too, but I was way too lazy to get up early enough for that. Except when I slept outside, since I didn't really have a choice.

I was expecting Clarisse to return to the Ares cabin, but she didn't. She flopped on the sand next to me. "Cool," she remarked. "It's clear tonight."

"Well, yeah," I replied, confused. "We can't get rained on, remember? Magical borders?"

She bit her lip. "Oh yeah," she said, but I got the distinct feeling I was missing the point. It was a feeling I had a lot when I was around her.

The last bit of sunlight vanished over the trees behind us. I felt like I could see every star in the sky, light pollution or no light pollution. That was what she'd been talking about, I realized. But she didn't want to admit it. Who would be ashamed to admit they liked the sight of the stars? An Ares kid, apparently.

"You know the constellations?" Clarisse asked, surprising me. I guess she'd changed her mind. Or maybe, just maybe, she was willing to forgo the badass act when I was the only one around.

I shrugged. "Some. Sagittarius. Corona Austrina. Lyra," I said, pointing to each one.

Clarisse nodded slowly. Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I might have seen her smile.

**Funny thing: I happened to stumble across Chris' page on the PJO wiki. He's described as something along the lines of "cool and calm." Uh… yeah, okay. In my defense, that's technically not canon, so there. Hmph.**

**Once again, reviews make Foaly happy, and a happy Foaly is less likely to seriously injure any characters. And no one wants that, right?**

… **I'm actually not so sure, to tell the truth. You people scare me sometimes, you know that?**


	39. Well I Know a Thing About Contrition

***sings***** … Because I've got enough to spare, and I'll be granting your permission, 'cause you haven't got a prayer… **

**You know, I never expected to like that band, but I do. They're fantastic. Don't judge a book by its cover or a band by its fans, kids. ;)**

**Fun fact: I didn't actually mean for the whole broken-bone thing to turn into such a saga, but then I realized that I'd sort of written myself into a corner since I kind of doubt Chiron could treat a comminuted fracture at camp. And yeah, I'm aware that I'm still using troll medicine here, but just humor me, okay? **

"Oh… my… gods."

I blinked, closing my eyes and cursing when the sun blinded me. I'd somehow managed to sleep straight through dawn. It had to be at least ten.

_Hey, Chris!_ chirped the broken bones in my arm and ankle. _Good morning! Wouldn't want you to forget about us!_

_Oh, screw you,_ I grumped back at them before realizing this wasn't exactly encouraging in the sanity department. Today was going to be an awful, awful day.

"OhmyGOOOOOOODS!" the same voice squealed again. I only knew one person who could sound like that.

"Silena? The Hades?" I yawned, propping myself up on my good arm and shaking sand out of my hair.

"You… oh my… holy…" Silena was jumping up and down and clapping like only a daughter of Aphrodite could.

I was just about to ask her what she was so worked up about when it occurred to me that for all I knew this was her panic response and we were both about to get killed by a monster. I looked around. My jaw dropped.

"Um…"

Clarisse was passed out on the sand next to me, six inches away, max. Her hand was draped lightly over my broken arm. Oh.

Silena squealed again. Why was she…?

_Oh._

"No!" I protested. "We didn't… I mean, she was just… _here,_ okay? Nothing happened!"

Silena's face fell. "Damn. I thought I might have been ahead of schedule." She rolled her eyes. "You have no game whatsoever, you know that?"

"I… what? What the Hades are you talking about?" I said, confused and more than a little alarmed. Schedule? What schedule?

"Um, hel-lo? You spent the night with her? You like her? She likes you? No supervision? How did you possibly mess that up?" Silena ranted.

I glanced at Clarisse nervously. I couldn't quite believe she was sleeping through this, but if she was faking it, she was damn good at it. "Okay, number one," I said tiredly, "You may or may not be aware of this, but I can't actually walk right now, which kills the mood a little. And number two… gods damn it, Silena, do you even need a number two? We're not even going out! Two broken bones was plenty for one night!"

"Hmph."

Clarisse's eyes snapped open suddenly. I winced as her grip on my arm tightened. A lot. She stared around, obviously confused about where she was for a second.

"Oh," she finally said. "Hey. Hey, Silena."

"Hey, 'Risse," Silena sighed.

Clarisse raised an eyebrow. "Why so down?"

Silena caught my eye. I shot her my most intimidating death glare. She stuck out her tongue.

"Oh, nothing," she sang.

"Oh, good," Clarisse said blithely. She turned to me. "Infirmary?"

It shouldn't have been a tough decision, but I hesitated. Chiron would realize instantly how I'd gotten hurt. But what choice did I have?

"Probably a good idea," I muttered reluctantly. Like they'd rehearsed it, Clarisse and Silena grabbed me and dragged me to the Big House.

Chiron treated me to the single most Chiron-y look I'd seen in my life as soon as we came through the door.

"And how did this happen, might I ask?"

I bit my lip. "Uh…"

"Training," Clarisse broke in. I glared at her. "Not the first time," she shrugged.

Chiron nodded. "I see. Why don't you get back to arts and crafts, Miss La Rue, and you to archery, Miss Beauregard."

Both girls groaned in unison, but Clarisse yanked Silena out the door.

Chiron glanced around the infirmary before turning to me. Only two other people was there, an Ares guy I recognized as Reese Kennedy and a kid I didn't know, but I figured I knew who he was. I had heard Reese was sent to escort a satyr and collect a new demigod. The trio had been attacked by a gang of hellhounds on the way back to camp. Reese managed to keep the new guy alive, but the satyr died, and both demigods were half-dead when they made it to camp yesterday. Both of them were still out cold, although Reese had apparently woken up this morning and given his report.

Funny thing about how Kronos came back right before I woke up: Now campers were having awful things happening to them left and right, meaning people had increasingly more to talk about without talking about me. Which meant, of course, that I was indirectly happy heroes were getting the Hades beaten out of them on a regular basis, which in turn meant I had to feel awful about the fact that I was happy. The universe insisted on passing me the villain ball.

I sat on the very edge of a cot, staring out the huge window. I could see kids running around the cabins across the strawberry field, the same view I'd gotten to know oh-so-well last night.

"Ankle and arm, right?" Chiron said. I nodded silently, wondering whether he had just guessed based on how I was limping and the fact that my forearm was bruised and swollen. "Your shoulder is okay, then?"

Not guessing, apparently.

"Yeah. Fine," I muttered, pulling my shoe off a bit more roughly than was probably wise.

"Do the girls know how this happened?"

"Clarisse does. Silena doesn't."

"Hmm. I was wondering when I'd be seeing you," he said darkly. "I was worried when I didn't see you before now, but unfortunately bringing my attention to you would bring Dionysus' as well."

"Where _is _Dionysus?" I said, doing my best to keep my voice neutral. Half of me wanted to confront him. The other half wanted to avoid him as long as I possibly could.

"He was summoned to Olympus just a moment ago. No, I don't know why, and I don't know when he'll be back, so I hope you'll excuse me if I seem to be rushing a bit," Chiron said grimly. "I think it would be best if you were gone before he returns. Speaking of which, I apologize for not helping you last night. It seemed that distracting Dionysus was the most helpful thing I could do for you at the moment." He poked at my ankle thoughtfully, frowning when I flinched. "Hermes did come back, you know."

I finally looked away from the window. "I didn't see him."  
"It wasn't until very late at night. You were long since gone, and I presume he didn't want to wake you up. If he even knew where you were, because I didn't," he said pointedly. "Again."

"Sorry."

"Indeed." He prodded my ankle harder, making me yelp. "This is going to be… tricky. The nectar doesn't seem to have done much. Although I hope you won't tell Miss La Rue that; it was very thoughtful of her to help."

"Um… okay," I said, wondering how the Hades he knew Clarisse had brought me nectar.

"Your arm should be fine with just a cast. I'll do that first and then see if I can do anything for your ankle." He pulled some cottony, gauzy stuff from a cabinet and started wrapping it around my arm. "These are the worst injuries I think I've seen Dionysus inflict on a demigod."

I remembered what Clarisse had said about pissing off Dionysus and suddenly felt a bit better. At least I knew it hadn't been anything worse than this.

"I hope you won't hold this against Olympus in general. We'll need every hero we have."

I knew I should just nod and let it go, but I was starting to learn that I absolutely sucked at listening to that little voice in my head.

"You don't think that was pretty representative?" I asked skeptically.

"I do not."

"Zeus seemed on board with it, judging by that thunder."

Chiron raised an eyebrow. "You _did_ disrespect the gods. I don't think they're accustomed to receiving the New Jersey state bird, particularly from a mortal."

"What, so you think I deserved this?" I protested angrily. "They get to basically beat me up because I'm honest about the fact that I don't like them?"

Chiron paused, actually thinking for a moment before he replied. I wanted to be mad at him, but I couldn't deny that I appreciated that. At least he was trying to listen.

"It's…" he began, then sighed. "I do not believe you deserved to be hurt. But the gods _are_ noble, even though it may not seem that way. I assume you've heard the saying that power corrupts?"

I nodded, wondering where the Hades he was going with this.

"The gods are powerful, Christopher, but they are psychologically human. Flawed. There's a reason they restrict themselves from interfering too often."

"It's all relative, is what you're saying. They're not as bad as they could be."

Chiron half-smiled. "I suppose. They do mean well, and that's what's important, in my opinion at least. Considering the amount of power they possess, they are remarkably judicious in their use of it. Generally speaking. They just don't always see eye-to-eye with mortals. And as you may have noticed, demigods tend to have a few traits in common, namely pride and a tendency to be infuriatingly stubborn at times. Well, you can guess where they get those traits. Yes, they do firmly believe that they deserve your respect, and you're entitled to disagree."

"I guess," I conceded. "But they have the right to punish me for disagreeing?"

"Of course not," he shrugged. "No one does. But that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. You may have noticed Miss La Rue's tendency to injure those by whom she perceives herself to have been wronged?"

"Yes. Yes I have," muttered, wondering what the ratio of Clarisse-inflicted to monster-inflicted scars on me was.

Chiron laughed. "I thought you may have. It's the same basic concept. Neither means any real harm, but that doesn't mean they don't inflict it."

I nodded, fairly sure I understood his point. I couldn't exactly see anything _wrong_ with it, but I still wasn't sure I agreed. No matter how straightforwardly Chiron laid it out, I was still pretty convinced I had a right to be pissed off at Mr. D.

"My nightmares," I said suddenly. "Are they doing that? Or are they just choosing not to help me, or does that fall under the 'not interfering' umbrella or what? I mean, if Mr. D was allowed to cure me, why wouldn't that be allowed?"

Chiron frowned. "I don't know, to be perfectly honest. I would think that would be permitted. The next time I see an Olympian– er, other than Dionysus– I'll ask if they know anything about that." He finished with my cast, holding his hands up in a _ta-da_ sort of gesture. "Let that dry for an hour."

"Thanks."

"Think nothing of it." He returned his attention to my ankle, but straightened up a moment later, shaking his head. "This could be a problem. It's a comminuted fracture. That is, one of your bones is… crushed, basically."

I blinked. "And… can you fix that?"

Chiron hesitated. "No."

I bit my lip, staring at the ground for a good few seconds. "_Now_ do I get to be mad?" I said calmly. Barely. I was pretty close to freaking out completely. What the Hades did he mean, he couldn't fix it? Did that mean no one could fix it? What if it didn't heal at all and I could never fight again? And it would be all Dionysus' fault. I was going to _kill_ him. Except oh wait, I couldn't, because he was immortal and I wasn't and on top of that I wouldn't be able to walk.

"Er… we'll see," Chiron said awkwardly. "It might be possible to fix surgically, but that would require a real hospital, and I doubt you want to be going under anesthesia outside camp, particularly because they wouldn't let anyone stay in the room with you."

I winced at the thought of getting knocked out, painfully vulnerable and all alone with a bunch of monsters disguised as doctors. I didn't like doctors anyway. I definitely didn't like them when they tried to kill me. I wasn't all that big on the unconsciousness part, either. I'd missed enough of the prime of my life already, thanks.

"Is there an alternative?" I asked, trying to move my ankle experimentally and stopping when Chiron gave me a look.

"Divine intervention comes to mind. But you've, uh…"

"Made that a bit difficult to arrange?"

"Exactly."

Huh. I'd really backed myself into a corner this time, hadn't I? And I had a nasty feeling that getting a god to help me would involve a significant loss of pride on my part. I was torn. My ego told me to fight to the hopefully metaphorical death and never give in, but honestly, I wasn't sure I had the will for that. Actually, I knew I didn't. Maybe I could have dealt with having a limp or something, but this was impossible. I'd be ridiculously easy prey for a monster the second I set foot outside camp. Which, of course, I wouldn't be able to do unless someone helped me.

Besides, I was a son of Hermes, the fastest guy here by far. I wasn't _me _if I couldn't run and fight. I wasn't good for much of anything besides that.

"You think Hermes would help me?" I asked hopefully.

"Unreachable," Chiron said, shaking his head. "He told me last night that even Iris wouldn't be able to contact him for the next few days."

Why did the universe hate me so much? Why?

"But there are other gods and goddesses that might not, well, hate you. I'll see if I can contact any of them. Hopefully Zeus hasn't forbidden any Olympian from helping you." He left before I could reply.

Would Zeus do that? I'd spent six years hoping for someone on Olympus to pay attention to me. Funny. All I had to do was flip them off and suddenly I had more attention than I wanted. But that's just who they are, I thought wearily. According to Chiron, at least. Still, it stung that I was totally unimportant until I pissed them off. That didn't seem quite fair.

I guess I could see what Chiron meant about them not being as bad as they could be. Society in general didn't really take them seriously, and it wasn't like the gods were rampaging against the mortals that didn't believe in them. Of course, that might have just proven that they cared even less about mortals than they did about demigods. Until said demigods pissed them off.

As far as I could see, what it came down to was, they thought I owed them respect and my life if necessary. And in return… yeah, Mr. D had technically saved my life, and yes, I was hoping some deity or other would help me out here, but that still struck me as a decidedly uneven trade, particularly since the only reason I needed help now was because Mr. D was a bastard.

Ah, wait, no. That was me, in the literal sense. There was that, too.

Chiron clopped back in. "Apollo has agreed to drop by," he said. "But he's… busy now." The look on his face said pretty clearly that he'd just seen something he didn't want to see.

"Oh," I said. "Busy, like… busy?"

"A bit like that, yes," the centaur sighed. "I'm sorry, but I have to teach archery at eleven; I hope you don't mind if I go. He'll be here eventually, but it might be quite a while."

"Quite a while? I thought he was– Right. God. Never mind."

That just wasn't _fair._

I sighed and returned to staring out the window for lack of anything better to do. I didn't really want to see Apollo any more than I had Chiron, but I had no choice. Literally, since I was pretty much stuck here until he showed up. I wondered if he even knew what had happened to Mary, and the role I had played in it. Or, for that matter, that one of his ignored kids had been the one who arranged a meeting with the Aloadai and set the whole godsdamned thing in motion.

No, I thought sharply. Bad Chris. Bad. I wasn't thinking like that anymore. Taking the moral high road. Yup. I'd been okay in the end, hadn't I? Mary wasn't, of course, but that was hardly Apollo's fault. Or at least not entirely his fault. Definitely more mine than his.

I missed Mary, I realized. She had hoped to meet Apollo, him and Clarisse and Lee Fletcher. Well, maybe she _did_ meet Lee, actually. I knew both of them had made Elysium. They had to. Even if Mary was technically a traitor, just like me.

Apollo appeared in a blast of light that blinded me even though I wasn't looking at him. I blinked away sunbursts and found myself looking at a guy disturbingly reminiscent of Luke, although he looked a lot happier. Almost dementedly so, actually.

"Hey!" he said brightly. His presence was different from Hermes' or Dionysus'. Maybe I was immune to Hermes, or maybe he was just better at controlling it, but he didn't cast an aura like the other gods I'd met. Dionysus' was pretty much awful, dark and grumpy like a hangover, but with an undercurrent of insanity. Maybe he just did that for my benefit whenever I was around. Apollo, on the other hand, was basically adolescence personified. I was pretty sure the world could come crashing down around him and he'd never stop believing everything would be okay. Still, I had no doubt that his temper was infinitely worse than mine, and he could probably do a lot more damage.

"Hey," I said. Talking to gods never really got easier.

"So Chiron told me you got yourself hurt?" he asked, looking around the room interestedly.

I frowned. "I got _myself–?_" I protested, before realizing I was being an idiot and cutting myself off. "I mean, yeah. I guess I did."

Apollo laughed. "Good answer. I'm under orders to leave if you don't seem… what was the word?" He scratched his head thoughtfully. "Contrite. That's it. Dunno why Athena couldn't just use _sorry,_ but you know how she is," he winked.

I gaped at him for a good few seconds. So I really was a topic of discussion on Olympus. And they wanted to see me act "contrite."

And the sad thing? I was going to. What choice did I have? I couldn't face the idea of not having my ankle healed. I knew I should be furious, at both them and myself, but I just felt defeated.

"You okay, kid?" Apollo said, his expression unconvincingly concerned. "You look a little down. Something wrong?"

I stared at my feet. "Just hurts a little, that's all."

He laughed again. "Well, that's why you don't mess with Dionysus." At first I thought he was just clueless, but then I realized there was something else in his voice. Something mean. "Hmm?" he asked.

I looked up. "What?"

Apollo smiled slowly. "You know. Messing with Olympians hurts." He had the same look that the Ares kids got when they bullied some new kid.

"Yeah," I said softly. "I guess so."

_Just fix my ankle, you psycho. Heal me and get the Hades out of here._

The god looked at me thoughtfully. "You're still mad at us, aren't you?"

"Well, I'm trying to be contrite," I replied. I managed to keep my voice calm, but I couldn't prevent a bit of sarcasm from creeping into it.

Apollo snorted. "You're not very good at it."

"Sorry," I said pointedly, wholly unsurprised when the irony flew right over his head.

He shook his head sadly. "I don't know what's wrong with you, kid. You just don't get it. Now, I'm in a pretty good mood right now, so I don't really care. You want to be stubborn, that's your problem. But for your own good, you really ought to learn some manners."

_Calm. _I was perfectly calm. Not mad at all. Nope. Serene as… something that wasn't the ocean or the sky, because now I knew they had pretty nasty tempers. Nope, I was all rainbows and butterflies and puppies. And puppies never killed anyone. At least not that I knew of.

"Well, are you going to thank me?"

I looked up again. "Um… what?"

"I just healed you," Apollo said. His voice seemed friendly again, but that menacing tone was still there underneath.

I blinked. I hadn't even noticed, but my ankle was perfectly fine again. He'd fixed my arm too, and the cast had vanished into thin air. And now he was staring at me, one eyebrow raised. I swore I could feel the temperature of the room rising, like he was mustering his power. I got the distinct feeling that I had about five seconds to express some kind of gratitude before I died in agony.

Discretion is the better part of valor, I thought wearily. I really needed to find a monster to kill. My pride had really been suffering over the past few days.

"Thanks," I said flatly.

Apollo grinned smugly, like I had just given a speech on all of the ways in which I was Olympus' bitch. Which, of course, made me want to tear it down with my bare hands more than ever. I didn't know what kind of game they were playing with me here, but they were cheating, I was losing, and I was extremely pissed off. Well, no. I knew exactly what they were doing. They were using me as stress relief. Kronos was threatening them, so what did they do? Mess with me, because I was a justified target that couldn't mess back. Classic psychological response. They were psychologically human, just like Chiron said.

Apollo vanished with no warning whatsoever. If I hadn't had Hermes kid reflexes, I probably would have been burned to ash or something. As it was, he managed to blind me for the second time. I bit back a mean comment, remembering how well that had gone with Dionysus. Apollo would probably come back and break _all_ of my bones.

I ran out of the Big House, resisting the urge to glare at the sky. I wondered how many Olympians were watching me right now and smirking. As much as I hated to admit it to myself, they had me completely beaten. If I had been declared the official cosmic punching bag, any deity would be looking for the slightest excuse to come after me.

I didn't know where to turn. Chiron would tell me to just keep my head down and deal with it. Hermes would probably agree, assuming he didn't hate me too. Clarisse would tell me to fight back if it killed me, and Travis would probably just stare at me blankly.

I headed for the woods, silently daring any monster to cross my path.

**The plot thickens. I apologize for the minimal romance in the last few chapters. The next one should be, um, much more interesting. Heheheh.**


	40. Scorpion Wrangling

**Oh, and just for the record, I am actually going somewhere with the Chris vs. Olympus thing. I'm not just making it up as I go along. Not completely, anyway. But yes, there will be an epic showdown. And there will be CAPSRAPE. :D**

**Also, I just Google Image'd "scorpion mouthparts." That is how much I love you all. I hope you appreciate it, because I'm scarred for life. 'Course, I'm not the one fighting it. Heh.**

**So yes, as promised, I give you… not fluff. Not even close. You'll find out. **

I had expected today to be an awful day.

What I did _not_ expect was to get attacked by a giant scorpion.

Just like in the maze, I heard it before I saw it. I knew there was a monster after me the first time I heard the leaves rustle, but I wasn't worried at first. Why would I be? I could take any monster in these woods. Or at least that was what I thought. Honestly, since when did we stock scorpions?

So I turned to face the direction of the noise, twirling my sword idly and waiting for something big and fanged to come barreling out of the underbrush. Nothing did. I took a step forward, wondering whether I had just imagined the rustling after all. Then the thing came skittering out, lighter and way bigger than the one from the maze.

For a second, I just stood there like an idiot, blinking in disbelief. I figured I must have lost my mind again, because there was no way in Hades one guy could run into two giant scorpions within a little over a year. Then again, it was me we were talking here. Of course something like this would happen. Why was I even surprised anymore?

Then it swung its stinger at my face, which snapped me out of it pretty quickly. I dodged it. Barely. I cursed, realizing that I probably should have been able to fight the thing like a berserker. I had always wanted to settle one of my scores, hadn't I? Well, now I had a chance. But honestly, the fact that I'd fought one before just made it worse, since I knew all too well what I was in for if I lost.

I backed up steadily, wondering how fast the thing was and trying not to look at the drop of venom shimmering on the end of its stinger. Running away was looking like a pretty good option, but I didn't want to do that without knowing how fast the thing was. Because if I turned my back on it and it turned out to be faster than I was… Ouch.

I was so focused on its tail that I didn't notice a claw shooting forward. Not until it closed around my recently-healed ankle. I yelped and slashed at it, falling for the obvious distraction beautifully. It swung its stinger way above me, curling half its body up so that I had to lean back to parry it. And as soon as it had me off-balance, it yanked my foot out from under me, sending me to the ground hard. I narrowly twisted away from another strike from its tail, my movement limited by the claw around my ankle. Before it could swing its stinger again, I sliced the thing's claw clean off and scrambled backwards, kicking the dead limb from my foot.

First blood, I thought wryly, watching the scorpion hiss and drip yellow ooze. I still wasn't the best at the scorpion-wrangling thing, but it was an improvement, even if I _was_ utterly terrified.

I clambered to my feet just as it charged again. This time it went right for my sword, hitting it hard enough to make my hand sting. I tried to stab it, but every time I leaned forward its stinger shot toward the back of my neck, forcing me to straighten up and defend myself.

The scorpion's stinger hit my sword again, numbing my entire arm and filling the woods with a metallic ringing sound. I started to switch my sword to my left hand. The tail swung impossibly fast, hitting the blade during the split second that I didn't have much of a grip on it. I gulped as it flew off to my right, vanishing into a patch of bushes.

Yet again, I got the distinct feeling that I was being silently laughed at by an arthropod.

"Well, shoot," I muttered quietly as it advanced. It angled to the right, cutting me off from any chance of retrieving my sword. How smart were scorpions, anyway? Half of me hoped not very, because sentient giant scorpions would be my cue to exit this dimension stage left, but then again, I was pretty sure I had just been outwitted by one.

I made the mistake of looking at its stinger again. Instantly, I remembered just how much scorpion stings sucked. Which, of course, made me freeze, just like I had in the maze. Its tail shot forward yet again. I dodged at the last possible second, cursing myself. The only way it could get me was if I stopped moving, I knew. I was fast enough to avoid getting stung as long as I kept it in front of me. I didn't really know how long I could keep it up, but what choice did I have?

Suddenly, I realized how close I was to Zeus' Fist, the former Labyrinth entrance. The scorpion was basically herding me toward it. I gulped. I really, really didn't want to be there, particularly accompanied by the fourth-worst thing that had ever happened to me. I tried to slip by it, but it was impossible without my sword. My back hit the rock.

Oh dear.

The scorpion made a few almost halfhearted swipes at me before slashing at my head, forcing me to duck. When I stood up, I found myself face-to-face with its stinger.

I cursed, realizing what it had done. Sure, it didn't have as much power from that distance, but it didn't need much force to take me down. It just needed to hit me. Which wouldn't be difficult, since it had just reduced the time I'd have to react to just about nothing.

I didn't have much of a choice about looking at the stinger anymore. I tensed, waiting to dive to the side. And waiting. And waiting. My focus was stretched to its absolute limit, hyperaware of every little thing in the clearing and just how much I did _not_ want that venom in my blood. I was pretty sure I was shaking. The damn thing was playing with me, I realized. It knew it had me.

So I kicked it in whatever it had instead of a face and ran.

I wasn't expecting it any more than the scorpion was, which was probably why I got away with it. For a second, at least. Until I tripped over a root and fell flat on my face. Even though I'd never seen a root above the ground in this clearing before, and I'd tripped exactly once in my life, when I was distracted by Clarisse.

Paranoid, I told myself. You're just clumsy because you know a godsdamned scorpion is going to sting the back of your neck in the next three seconds or so. It's definitely a coincidence that a root just happened to pop up right in your path, and you just happened to trip over it. No one would possibly do that on purpose. Of course not.

Because that would be absolutely, positively, totally fucking _evil. _And gods knew there wasn't anybody like that out there who also happened to be omnipotent and get a kick out of messing with me.

The nice thing about having a nasty temper was that being furious made it a lot harder to be scared. The stinger buried itself in the ground, missing me by an inch as I rolled and jumped to my feet. I sprinted back in the direction I came from, listening to the thing chasing me. I was faster. Barely. My sword glimmered in the bushes. I lunged for it as the scorpion skittered across the clearing, whirling on it just in time to meet its strike. Instead of parrying, I just swung my sword as hard as I could, ignoring the fact that the thing's remaining claw was clamped around my leg again. The stinger thudded to the ground. I rammed the blade into the scorpion's body, smiled grimly, and stabbed it again even though it had already started to melt.

I turned and started back to camp, trying to convince myself that I wasn't shaking. That was the closest to death I'd come in a while now, and a nasty death at that. And I was that much more convinced that Olympus was collectively after me. Yeah, I supposed it was possible that I had just tripped, but I doubted it.

On a whim, I jogged back to Zeus' Fist. The ground was dusty and bare. No roots anywhere. But I'd seen the damn thing. I knew I hadn't just tripped over my own feet. I had a lot of faults, but clumsiness simply wasn't one of them.

"Nice," I muttered, glancing at the sky. "That's real nice."

I was half-expecting some sort of retribution for the comment. Honestly, I was almost hoping for it. At least it would prove I wasn't paranoid. But nothing happened. Not until I loped into the woods again and immediately found myself on my face for the second time, glaring at the tangled roots of the tree I'd just passed. These roots at least existed, yes, but there was no way I would have misjudged their height badly enough to trip over them. They had moved. I was absolutely positive.

Or I was insane. Either way.

xxx

I was pretty sure the activities had switched by now. My cabin would be at the arena. I headed toward it, even though I was pretty sure fighting a giant scorpion was plenty of training for the day.

Chiron came galloping out of nowhere. Or, more accurately, from somewhere between the archery range and the training arena, but he was going so fast that he almost sent me flying. He cursed in ancient Greek when he saw me.

I blinked. "Uh, hello."

"Chris," he said breathlessly. "Apollo's gone, then?" I nodded. He swore again.

"Why?" I asked.

"More injured demigods just arrived at the Big House. And I was just on my way to deal with a situation at the arena." He shook his head. Suddenly, he narrowed his eyes, looking at me thoughtfully.

"Uh… yes?" I said, wondering what the Hades I had done.

"Would you do me a favor and go to the arena?" he asked hurriedly, his horse feet shifting like they wanted to start running again. "I think you may be able to help more than I would."

I tilted my head, confused. "Sure, but why would I be able to–?" He was gone before I could finish the sentence. "Alrighty then," I muttered.

I stuck my head around the bleachers that formed the entrance to the arena, wondering what could possibly be going on. I figured it out pretty quickly. Clarisse had Travis by the straps of his armor. She had pinned him to the wall, one hand balled into a fist, and I could tell he'd already taken a few hits. Mark Sherman had Connor's collar, although I didn't think he had hurt him, just grabbed him to prevent him from interfering. The rest of the Ares cabin stood in rough formation behind them, staring down the Hermes kids and silently daring them to attack.

"Why me?" I muttered. What did Chiron expect me to do? Talk Clarisse out of it? There was no way in Hades she'd listen to me. I'd just end up getting beaten up instead.

Well, Travis was my little brother, sort of, I thought with a long-suffering sigh. Besides, he'd stood up for me a good few times. Not physically, of course, but still. I owed it to him to at least try to help.

I winced as Clarisse decked him again, realizing I should probably get started on that sooner rather than later.

Over the years, I'd figured out that there was a certain technique to dealing with children of Ares. They divided the world into two neat groups: people they took seriously and people who weren't Ares kids. But there was a loophole. If you acted like an Ares kid, they'd treat you like one. The fact that Beckendorf and I were the only demigods in their size range and capable of giving them a run for their money in a fight probably helped, of course.

I stepped into the arena, put on my don't-mess-with-me face, and started shoving kids out of my way. Most of the Hermes kids seemed to realize what was going on and stepped out of my path. A good few of them were glancing from me to Clarisse and smirking. Why did I ever try to do nice things?

Getting past the Ares kids was a little harder, but I finally managed to wrestle my way through them with a healthy dose of cursing and a few relatively mild scuffles. I walked up behind Clarisse and tapped her on the shoulder, leaning back in anticipation of her elbow shooting toward my stomach. She stiffened when her strike missed, turning slowly without letting go of Travis.

"Hey there, Clarisse," I said with a friendly smile, wondering what I had gotten myself into.

She stared at me incredulously, adjusting a lock of hair that had fallen from her bandanna. "What the Hades are you doing, Rodriguez?"

"So I'm Rodriguez now?" I asked, raising an eyebrow and glaring at an Ares kid who had taken a step toward me.

"That's what I said, punk," she growled. I honestly couldn't tell whether she was actually mad at me or just putting on a show. "You didn't answer my question. What do you think you're doing?"

I shrugged. "Just wondering what's going on, I guess. Anyway, I'm supposed to be here, aren't I? The rest of my cabin is."

"What's going on is that this punk dissed me!" she said. "And I didn't mean what are you doing in the arena, I meant what are you doing in my face?"

"I'm not in your face. This is a perfectly reasonable distance to have a conversation."

"_Why_ are we having a conversation?" Clarisse spat.

"Well, you're kind of beating up my half-brother," I pointed out. "I was hoping you'd stop if I asked nicely."

She gave me a suspicious look. "You haven't asked nicely."

"Please stop beating Travis up," I sighed.

"No."

I rolled my eyes exasperatedly. "Why not?"

"Why would I?"

"Because I asked nicely!" I exclaimed.

Clarisse huffed. "I know you did. I never said I'd stop, though."

By now the Hermes kids were giggling and the Ares guys just looked confused. Clarisse seemed to notice the laughter. Her face hardened.

"Get out of here," she said coldly.

"When you let him go," I replied wearily.

Clarisse glared and turned her back on me. She drew her fist back like she was going to punch Travis, who cowered against the wall. I grabbed her elbow. Her shoulders stiffened, and there was a collective intake of breath as she faced me again. Great. Drama. She'd never forgive me for this.

"Go to lunch, guys," I told the Hermes kids. I wasn't actually expecting them to listen to me. I was just trying to make Clarisse hate me a bit less. To my surprise, they actually left, although half of them were still snickering. Travis peeked over Clarisse's shoulder, winked, and sidled off after them without the Ares kids noticing.

After watching them leave, Clarisse turned back to me. "All right, now do you want to tell me what kind of stunt you're trying to pull here?" she growled.

I hesitated before answering, trying to figure out how I should play this. I was starting to realize that she might be legitimately pissed off. I couldn't see the slightest hint of humor in her eyes. Was that really such a wrong thing for me to do? Kids stood up to her on occasion, right? I couldn't actually think of a time I'd seen it happen, except Percy of course.

Clarisse took a step forward, getting right in my face. "Well?" she hissed. I noticed for the first time that the Ares cabin had me completely surrounded, forming a semicircle around Clarisse and I. I resisted the urge to draw my sword. If I didn't draw my weapon, they wouldn't use theirs. Hopefully.

"What'd you expect me to do?" I shrugged, completely ignoring Clarisse's half-siblings. "You wouldn't let me punch your cabin mate, would you?"

"That's not the point," she snarled.

"That's exactly the point."

Clarisse took a deep breath, like she was putting in significant effort not to kill me. "Let me make this really clear to you, Rodriguez. When I'm teaching a punk a lesson. You. Do. Not. Interfere."

"When it's my brother, I do. And maybe you should stop being such a bully," I added before I could stop myself.

Clarisse's eyes narrowed slowly. She was angry. _Really _angry. Her hands curled into fists again, and I found myself tensing to block a punch. To my surprise, she turned her glare on her cabin. "You know what? Get out of here."

They did. Much more quietly than the Hermes kids, actually. They didn't even look at us as they filed out. I stared after them thoughtfully, wondering how to handle this. I didn't want to fight her. Sure, we sparred all the time, but we never really tried to hurt each other. I still wouldn't hurt her, of course, but I really didn't feel like getting sent to the infirmary again. Besides, I just didn't like having her be mad at me.

"Look, Clarisse, it was nothing personal, okay?" I said quietly. "You know I couldn't let you hit Travis."

She gave me a long look. "And you just so happened to show up just in time?"

"Just in time? He looked like you'd already beaten the Hades out of him."

Clarisse laughed out loud. "Oh, sure, I hit him. That was nothing. I was just getting started."

"Well, okay. I guess I _was _just in time, then," I amended. I wasn't so sure about the _just so happened_ part. I'd been heading to the arena anyway, but Chiron had told me to stop whatever was going on, so I wasn't sure if that counted. "Why does that matter, anyway?"

"Because you–" she began, before breaking off with a frustrated growl. "All right, look. I don't hate you as much as I hate most people. Just… don't abuse that, okay?"

Now that, I was unprepared for. Maybe it was nothing personal for me, but it was for her. And I kind of saw what she meant, too. Chiron had obviously thought I had a better chance than most of getting her to cool off, and maybe he was right. But I could see how frustrated I'd get if she started popping out of nowhere every time I lost my temper. I'd feel like the fact that I cared about her was being used against me, which would make me resent the fact that I cared in the first place.

"I get it," I said. "Really. And I _promise_ you it's nothing personal. I'm just not going to watch someone get beaten up, and, well, you happen to be the most likely person to beat someone up, so…"

"So you're going to make this a habit," she said flatly.

"Pretty much, yeah."

"Why?" she huffed. "If it's none of your business, why do you need to stick your nose in?"

"Hey, if you and your siblings want to beat the Hades out of each other, _that's _none of my business!" I replied, raising my hands placatingly. "But Travis is half your size."

"So?" she snapped. "He should've thought of that before he made fun of Maimer!"

"Then make fun of him back, or something!" I protested. "Just… pick on someone your own size, okay? You can't just punch him to shut him up!"

I found myself remembering what Chiron had said about Clarisse. That, like the gods, she thought might made right. Travis pissed her off, so she hit him, just like the gods hurt me when I made them mad.

And, apparently, I had made Clarisse mad.

"Pick on someone my own size?" she yelled. "I'll pick on whoever the Hades I want!"

"Like Hades you will!" I shouted back, giving up on diplomacy for the moment. "You're an Ares kid, I get that, fine. Fight your brothers if you've got to fight! Fight me, I don't care! But quit hitting kids half your size!"

Clarisse's eyes seemed to be glinting redder than usual, almost as bright as her armor. She glared at me like she genuinely wished I'd drop dead on the spot. Her hair was all over the place, falling in front of her face and wisping around it. I blinked, realizing that now probably wasn't the best time for my mind to land in the gutter.

"You don't get it," she snarled. "I fight all the time. That's not what it's about. The kids I beat up are the ones who disrespect me."

"Disrespect?" I hissed. I couldn't stop myself from thinking of Dionysus and Apollo. All my anger at them suddenly reared its ugly head, and I had to struggle to remember I wasn't really that mad at Clarisse. No, I _was _that mad at Clarisse. I found myself taking a step forward, not caring that I was much closer than I probably should have been. "What in _Hades_ makes you think you deserve their respect?"

Clarisse took a step back so she could look me in the eye. She smiled nastily. "I don't know. But I always get it, don't I?"

I closed my eyes, letting my breath out in a growl. "That isn't respect. That's fear. Terrorizing them doesn't make you right. Or better."

"Yes it does!" she shot back, tossing her head furiously. "Fear and respect are the same godsdamned thing!"

"I respect you. But you don't scare me."

That seemed to piss her off more than anything. She raised Maimer suddenly, leveling the point at my face. "No?"

I smacked it out of the way and took another step forward, forcing her another step back. "No. Stop picking on little kids_._"

Clarisse glared at me in disbelief, her shoulders heaving like we'd been sparring for hours. "Don't tell me what to do," she snarled, baring her teeth. This was the first time she'd really lost it with me, I realized. Probably because it was the first time I'd actually argued with her. I knew she wasn't used to taking that from anyone, least of all me. Whatever twisted power struggle was going on between us, I had just crossed some kind of line. And I didn't care. Hades, I was thrilled. If she expected to have any control over me, I fully intended to make her fight for it.

"Quit telling everyone else what to do, then," I said harshly.

"I don't tell them what to do! They can do whatever the Hades they want!" she spat. "But when they piss me off, I want to see some contrition!"

Contrition, huh?

Later, I tried to convince myself that I'd just been making a point. That I didn't really mean it. But the truth was, for a split second, I lost it.

I grabbed Clarisse's wrists and slammed her against the wall. Her eyes widened for a moment before narrowing again, glaring at me so furiously I swore I felt heat.

"Let go of me, Chris," she said through gritted teeth. "I swear to the gods I will–"

"You pissed me off," I quoted her coldly, a bit of sarcasm slipping into my voice. "I want to see some contrition." Honestly, I had no idea what I was doing. I wasn't hurting her, I told myself. This wasn't the same thing. I knew I'd still feel awful later, even though she'd done pretty much the same thing to me about fifty times. But at the moment, I just didn't care.

Clarisse stared at me for a moment, her face inches from mine. Then, to my amazement, she smiled. It was a cold, grim, challenging smile, and I was pretty sure she only did it to piss me off that much more. And something about it told me that she knew exactly what she could say if she really wanted to hurt me. She knew this wasn't really about her or Travis, and she knew how much of a hypocrite I was being. Because honestly, both of us knew that if I'd been having this argument with a boy, I'd have punched them in the face by now and considered the debate won. I recognized the double standard, but I didn't make the rules and I wasn't about to break them. Admittedly pinning Clarisse to the wall was probably bending them a bit, but I was reasonably sure that kind of thing happened on occasion, albeit for entirely different reasons.

And, boom. Mind, meet gutter.

"Well, don't expect to."

I had to backtrack a bit to remember exactly what it was I shouldn't expect to do. Expect contrition. Right. Of course.

"Then how can you expect it from other people?" I shot back.

Clarisse laughed out loud. "Simple. One, because they're cowards and I'm not. And two, because you're not beating me up, you're just trying to intimidate me, and you suck at it, because I know you're scared to hit me."

"Scared to hit you?" I said suspiciously. "Clarisse, you know perfectly well that's not the reason. Are you _trying _to piss me off?"

She scowled. "Forget it. Just… Look, I'm going to hit kids who make me angry. Just like you do. That's just the way it is."

"It's not the same thing! I fight when someone hurts me, not when I think someone doesn't respect me enough!" I argued.

"Well, no wonder no one respects you, then!" she shouted back, surprising me. "You think anyone would talk behind your back if you punched everyone who did?"

"It doesn't matter! I did something stupid and something bad happened, okay? People are going to talk about it, and they're going to think I'm either pathetic or a psycho and I don't have any right to expect anything different!" I yelled.

I was already close enough to Clarisse that Ares probably would've killed me if he'd been paying attention, but she actually leaned forward, shattering whatever illusion of personal space I'd been trying to preserve. "That's my point," she said in that same mocking, goading tone. "That's what people think about you? Then you've got something to prove. So _prove it_."

I did have something to prove, I realized. But not to Camp Half-Blood. They could think whatever they wanted about me. But Clarisse? Her opinion mattered. And I could sense the scorn radiating from her right now. She considered my refusal to physically fight her a loss by forfeit, and probably an insult too. And honestly, I wanted to fight her. Yeah, we sparred, but I never really fought back. It had never occurred to me to even wonder whether I could beat her if I really wanted to. And right now, I wanted to. I couldn't stand having her look at me like that.

If I'd been fighting a boy, it would already be over. If I let go of her wrist, I could so easily hit her before she could block it. Hades, I could just throw her to the ground with barely any effort. But I wouldn't. Because this was Clarisse, and I could never hurt her. Even though she was really, _really_ testing my restraint, and self-control had never been my strong point in the first place.

She raised an eyebrow. The corner of her mouth twitched, trying to tease me into a fight. Prove it, she said silently.

So I did the next best thing. I kissed her.

There was even less thought in it than kicking the scorpion, or even pinning her in the first place. I could tell she wasn't expecting it any more than I was, either now or when she'd done it to me. I almost laughed. This was poetic payback.

I was half-expecting her to punch me when I let go of her wrists. She just pulled me closer even though that shouldn't have been possible, one hand tangling in my hair again. I was pretty sure I had just discovered the secret to arguing with Clarisse.

Funny. And there I was thinking today was going to be awful.

**So just out of curiosity, is absolutely anyone of the male persuasion reading this? If so, is it even close to realistic in terms of the workings of the male mind? Because I'm sort of making a stab in the dark here. I mean, I know I'm romanticizing things a bit, so to speak, but aside from that.**

**Oh, and this fic is officially my first project to pass 100,000 words! Yay me!**

**Question: Did Chris just grow a pair, or take a swan dive over the moral event horizon? Because I'm not all too sure myself, to be perfectly honest. Speaking of which, I have Hysteria by Muse stuck in my head. I can't imagine why.**


	41. Can't We Discuss This Vertically

**Lol, I think I figured out how to get you guys to review. Well, I'll keep that in mind. ;)**

**Oh, and if Clarisse seems a bit OOC, just wait a chapter or two; there's a reason for it. Don't hate her too much. Not yet, at least.**

What happened next was a bit like getting hit by a bus: painful, undignified, and I probably should have seen it coming.

I was kind of impressed by how much Clarisse managed to surprise me. I mean, I assumed she'd have to at least pause in kissing me before she could hit me, so I'd have a bit of warning. I was wrong. She didn't even miss a beat, and suddenly I was on the ground. Again.

It took me a few seconds to notice a few very important things. For one thing, I was legitimately pinned. Half the times she tried it when we sparred I could probably have thrown her off if I wanted, but not this time. And she was pissed off again.

See, now, how was that fair? How was what I did any different from what she did to me? I mean, sure, there was a fine line between assertiveness and assault, but if I'd crossed it then she most certainly had too. Again with the double standard, I thought wearily.

Oh, and she'd somehow managed to grab her spear. That was also a little distressing.

"Gods damn it, Chris," she hissed. "Don't you ever, _ever…_" She trailed off, her face bright red. From anger… maybe. I wasn't quite sure.

"You did," I pointed out, thankful that I wasn't particularly angry anymore, which would have made this a far trickier situation. It was a bit difficult to be angry at someone I'd basically just made out with. Although she was somehow still managing to be mad at me, but she was a child of Ares; being mad was practically a superpower with them.

"Well, you don't. Got it?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Uh… no? What's the difference? Also, get off me."

"I told you not to tell me what to do!" she yelled.

"Look, do you even hear the irony in what you just said?" I asked exasperatedly. "Seriously. This is kind of painful. Can't we discuss this… you know, vertically? Just to mix things up a little?"

I blinked when I realized her blush had deepened a little. Funny. I didn't even mean it like that, and I should've been the one with the dirty mind, right? Unless, of course, I'd just pissed her off even more, which was entirely possible.

"Gods damn it," she growled again, but shot to her feet abruptly. She threw a kick at my side, for good measure I guess, but it was hard enough to hurt.

"What was that for?" I protested. "Can we minimize the abuse, please?"

She huffed. "What do you call what you just did?"

"Well… kissing? Why, what do you call it?"

Clarisse only gritted her teeth and glared a hole in the ground. She was still tense, her spear pointed at me like she was ready to kill me on the spot if I made a wrong move. For some crazy reason, I wanted to smile. It was just so… Clarisse. There were girls who could give you an adrenaline rush, and then there was her. She was a live grenade. And I was the dumbass who got curious and stood a little too close, or the cat wondering what fire smelled like.

"What are you so mad about?" I asked. "I mean, I really am sorry for… uh… pinning you to a wall, and I know I'm a horrible person, and if I wasn't going to Tartarus before I probably am now, but I know you well enough to be pretty damn sure that's not what you're mad about."

She glared up at me from under one raised eyebrow. "Oh, brilliant, Dr. Rodriguez," she snarled. "You're one to psychoanalyze."

I blinked, totally unprepared to deflect an insanity reference. I mean, it wasn't a particularly mean one, but still. I didn't really see how that had been called for. "I'm not psychoanalyzing you," I said evenly, trying to keep the edge out of my voice. "I'm just trying to figure out what I did that was so unforgivable."

Clarisse gave me that look that told me I was in way over my head, had no idea what I was talking about, and should probably turn and run before things got ugly. "I've forgiven a lot, punk," she said, her voice suddenly cool and hard. "You've been pretty quick to forget that."

Another low blow. I drew back, once again at a loss for a response. I genuinely didn't get what I had done wrong. Well, wandered out of camp, gotten sent into the Labyrinth, lost my mind, mistaken her for a demon, made her beg Dionysus for my life… huh. Although technically only the first two were strictly my fault.

Was she being irrational, or was I? I couldn't for the life of me decide. And I didn't really care, either. One way or the other, she had every right to hate me. And I'd make it up to her if it killed me, because she was worth it. Even if she could be kind of a… well… psycho. Well, who could deal with that better than me?

"I haven't forgotten it," I said, a little indignantly. "I haven't forgotten anything, even the stuff I never want to remember." Hey, if she could fight dirty, I could, too.

Her eyes narrowed. "Yeah? Like what?"

I stared at her in disbelief. "What the Hades kind of question is that? What does that have to do with anything?" But just by asking the question, she'd filled my mind with blood and dark, suffocating water. I took a deep breath, resisting the urge to shiver.

Clarisse glared over my shoulder, and I knew she didn't have an answer. What was _that_ about? The only possible reason to ask me that was to psych me out. And it was working. I got that feeling a kid gets when they go into a dark basement, knowing something was going to slash across my back any second, but unwilling to turn, because even though I knew perfectly well that there was nothing there, what if there _was_ and then I couldn't deny it anymore?

My hand went to my sword subconsciously. Clarisse raised an eyebrow. "What, afraid the ground's going to open and eat you? You told me you were sane, punk."

I barely stopped myself from looking down. I didn't want to give her the satisfaction, because she'd made it pretty clear we were opponents again. Somehow, she knew exactly what to say to get to me. But what stung even more than her words was the fact that she was saying them. I still didn't know what I had done wrong, and I couldn't describe the look on her face as anything other than cruel.

I shifted a foot nervously. Her face split into a smug, predatory smile. It didn't even seem like she was trying to get me to fight anymore. More like she was trying to beat me on a field where I could fight back. Except I really couldn't, could I? I was ten times as vulnerable as she was. What was I supposed to attack her about? I couldn't think of anything. And she had enough ammunition to rip me to shreds.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" I said forlornly. "Would you _please _just tell me what I _did?"_

"Oh, gods, not that look!" Clarisse grumbled, rolling her eyes. "Quit it with the kicked-puppy thing."

I blinked, reasonably sure that I had never actually used that phrase out loud. "Technically you did kick me. Literally and metaphorically," I added.

"How, exactly, did I metaphorically kick you?"

"Well, gee. Maybe by not only mentioning the Labyrinth, but making me paranoid that I'm going to end up in it again, while also making me feel guilty for being nervous in the first place?" I said testily.

"No, I didn't," she snapped. "I asked a question and stated a fact. Quit being so dramatic."

"I lost my fucking mind down there!" I protested. "I'm entitled to have a bit of a reaction when someone brings it up!"

"So you're still scared of it."

I stared at her in disbelief. "Of course I'm still scared of it! I'll be terrified of the godsdamned thing until the day I die! Why do you think I acted like I did in the Big House cellar? You think I'm ever going down there again?" I stopped to take a breath. "And why the _Hades_ are you sniping at me?"

"Sniping," she repeated flatly. "Right. Whenever someone criticizes you, they're 'sniping.'"

"That's not fair and you know it," I shot back. "You can criticize me all you want, but I know you're trying to mess with me right now and I'd really appreciate it if you'd tell me why!"

Clarisse stared at me, eyes narrowed. I almost winced. It was like facing a one-woman firing squad, wondering when she would fire and if this was the time she'd aim to kill. The illusion was solidified by the fact that, in the course of the argument, she'd somehow managed to maneuver my back against the wall. What was it with that, anyway? I wondered. I mean, she did it to everyone, but it seemed to happen to me suspiciously often.

Suddenly, I had a sneaking feeling I might know what this was about.

"Who says I need a reason?" she snarled, jabbing her finger at my chest. It took me a second to realize she was answering my question and not reading my mind.

"I do," I snapped back, ignoring the fact that Maimer's point was uncomfortably close to my neck. I could practically feel the electricity. And I knew this was probably an awful time to test my little theory, but I had to know. "Tell me what you're mad about," I said harshly.

Clarisse's teeth ground together. Her knuckled whitened around her spear.

And, bingo. There it was.

I was so proud of myself for my impromptu detective work that I didn't notice Clarisse moving. Not until her spear thudded into the wall less that an inch from my neck, close enough to zap me. I yelped and reared away from it. And she must have known I would, because for the first time– although it wasn't for lack of trying– she managed to punch me in the face.

At first, I was too surprised to be angry or even feel any pain. The fact that she'd effectively stunned me may have had something to do with it, too. I would have been on the ground if not for the wall. As it was, I slid halfway down, thinking resignedly that this was probably going to leave a mark.

Clarisse's eyes glowed a bright, bloody red. She yanked her spear from the wall and whipped toward me. For a second, I genuinely believed that she was about to kill me. And I still only knew half of the reason. Definitely the direct command had set her off, but I still didn't know why she went so berserk over it.

"Hades, Clementine," I muttered, spitting blood and touching my cheekbone gingerly. "You think maybe you're overreacting?"

Why, I wondered, was it so firmly ingrained in my nature to deliberately piss off people who might kill me? I was a Darwin Award waiting to happen.

"What I'm doing," she growled, "Is punching someone who pissed me off. _And_ disrespected me."

Now I got it. A little more than before, at least. I'd practically forgotten what the original argument was about, but she obviously hadn't. I had definitely been right that this was all just one big battle of wills. One that I was losing spectacularly.

I tried to stand up straight, but gave up when she held her spear to my throat, forcing me to press my shoulders against the wall and lift my chin and generally adopt an infuriatingly compromising position to avoid getting my neck zapped. She smirked triumphantly. I glared.

"And you don't feel the slightest bit guilty about punching me when you know I won't hit back?"

Clarisse shrugged. "Won't, not can't. That's your problem."

"Guess so," I sighed. "In that case, I'm going to lunch."

She blinked. "What?"

"Lunch," I repeated. "You know, food. I haven't actually had anything but a little nectar since lunchtime yesterday." I had only brought it up as a handy means of escape, but I was starving, actually.

"Oh," said Clarisse. She didn't move.

"So, move your– uh, I'd really appreciate you moving your spear," I corrected myself, blinking when I realized I'd just become a victim of Pavlovian conditioning. Great. And I was pretty sure Clarisse knew it too, because although she actually did pull Maimer away from my throat, she was clearly fighting back a smirk. I scowled. One way or another, I was going to get her for this, because it had gone entirely too far.

Later. Because right now, I wanted lunch.

To my surprise, she followed me like nothing had happened, although that triumphant little grin was still there. I touched the spot where she'd punched me again. I could feel that there was a bruise, although I couldn't tell how bad it was without looking.

"You just did that to protect your reputation, didn't you?" I realized out loud. "You couldn't let me show up without some kind of a mark."

"I did it because you're a jackass."

"Again with the emotional abuse," I muttered. "That's very psychologically damaging, you know."

She raised an eyebrow. "For someone so sensitive, you really set yourself up. I can think of about ten things to say to that, and I guarantee you'd flip out over at least half of them"

I huffed. "I am not sensitive. You just go right for my Achilles heel every time."

I couldn't quite believe that I was having a civil conversation with her– relatively speaking– even though she'd decked me two minutes ago. I was pretty sure every women's magazine ever would be appalled with me. I sighed. Only I could get myself into an abusive relationship without even being in a relationship. But she was a child of Ares, I thought wearily. What did I expect?

Suddenly, a nasty thought hit me.

"Clarisse?"

"Uh-huh?"

"Are your brothers like this, too?"

She tilted her head. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, I mean," I said, touching my bruised cheekbone subconsciously, "Do they… you know, hit people who piss them off? Specifically, people of the opposite gender?"

Clarisse shrugged. "Well, I know they beat up people who make them mad. I've never seen any of them hit a girl, aside from when they're sparring with me. And besides," she added. "You're way more annoying than their girlfriends."

"I'm more annoying than an Aphrodite girl?" I repeated. "That's harsh." I also realized that she had drawn a pretty clear analogy between her and me with her brothers and their girlfriends, although I elected to keep that thought to myself.

I didn't particularly want to start a feud with the Ares cabin, but their collective habit of punching people was really starting to bother me. I hoped Clarisse was right that her brothers would never hit a girl. They probably wouldn't do it under normal circumstances, I knew, but still. Clarisse had decked me, after all. Obviously the no-hitting-girls rule didn't really apply on that one. But I had pinned her to a wall, and I knew the Ares guys were way more violent and temperamental than I was. Which, I was starting to realize, was saying something. I resolved to try and work on that a bit.

Of course, she did have a point that we probably pissed each other off a lot more than normal people did, so there was that. I supposed I was a bit more likely than an Aphrodite girl to deliberately mess with an Ares kid, and Clarisse obviously got a kick out of trying to make me lose it, for whatever reason. Funny how we weren't even going out and we still had probably the most twisted, violent, dysfunctional relationship in camp.

I followed Clarisse into the dining pavilion, rolling my eyes when I realized she'd somehow gotten in front of me. I made a point of keeping my head up, or at least not staring at my feet. I looked whipped enough already.

Most kids weren't paying attention, but there were definitely snickers from the Ares table when they saw the bruise on my face. Clarisse shot me one last smug look and strode off to join them. The Hermes table, on the other hand, looked impressed that I wasn't even worse off.

"You lived!" Travis said brightly when I flopped down next to him.

I huffed. "Barely. And my pride took a worse beating than my face." Sort of, I added mentally. It had gone pretty well until a certain point, after all.

"Sorry about that. I appreciate it, man."

"Anytime," I sighed, stealing a slice of pizza from his plate while his attention was still focused on my bruise.

Travis nodded thoughtfully. "I really am sorry, though. I only let you do it 'cause I figured she wouldn't hurt you."

"I did too, to be perfectly honest," I replied. Before saying it, I hadn't actually realized that was true. "Which is probably why she pulled it off. Or at least that's what I'll keep telling myself."

He laughed. "You two are messed up, you know that?"

"Tell me about it."

**Just for the record, I most certainly am NOT trying to say that punching your boyfriend is an okay thing to do. It is, however, a Clarisse thing to do, so there you go. And like I said, there's a reason for it, sort of, that you'll find out soon. The general consensus when I asked was to make it dark and twisted, so… yup. I figured emotional and physical abuse would be a brilliant way to do that.**


	42. Too Tired for Sparkles

**Ooh lookie, the first update since school started. I've been writing this in bits and pieces, so I'm sorry if it's a little disjointed. And it's another conversation-only chapter. Should be a bit more interesting than the last one, though. Not to mention informative. SILENA KNOWS ALL.**

"Tell me."

"Forget it."

"Please?_"_

"I said leave it, Silena."

"_Do you like her or not?"_

Unfortunately for me, my cabin had arts and crafts with the Aphrodites today. As usual, I'd fallen asleep at about three in the morning and overslept. When I had arrived at the arts and crafts cabin, sidling in while Chiron's back was turned, I had been dismayed to find that the only open seat was at a table with Silena and two of her sisters.

So there I was, getting interrogated about the bruise on my cheek while the Aphrodites I didn't know alternated between laughing at me and flirting with me. It was sort of a surreal experience, actually. The bits of pink and red paper all over the table only added to it. I wasn't too clear on why they were making Valentines in August, particularly considering that the prompt on the board was for a sketch, but somehow it didn't surprise me. I rolled my eyes and shook glitter out of my hair. There was entirely too much happiness going on at this table. I was way too tired for sparkles.

"Fine," Silena sniffed. "Be like that. I'll figure it out. Just tell me yes or no. It was Clarisse who punched you, yes?"

I glared at her grumpily. "Yes."

"But you two weren't sparring or anything."

"No." I yanked a sketchbook and pencil toward me, glancing at the prompt on the board. Draw Theseus. Fine. I would.

"So you pissed her off."

"Apparently."

There were a few seconds of silence. Silena leaned over my paper. "Holy Zeus, Chris, are you drawing him after he got thrown off the cliff?"

"Yup."

"Wow," she remarked. "You're just a ray of sunshine this morning, aren't you?"

I stared at her. "I got four hours of sleep. I got punched in the face. And that was the day after getting two bones broken, and getting them fixed by a–"

I cut myself off just in time. I despised the fact that Olympus could control me like that, but what could I do? I didn't know what would happen if I cussed at Apollo, but I was reasonably sure it would be very, very painful.

Silena huffed. "Well sor-ry. I'm just trying to help."

I was about to mutter something along the lines of _well, you're not_ before I remembered I was trying not to be a jackass anymore. Or at least not as much. This was _hard._

"I know. I'm just really tired, okay?" I said, glancing down at my drawing and suddenly feeling a little guilty. What had Theseus ever done to me?

Silena pursed her lips sympathetically, patting my shoulder. "Don't worry, I forgive you. As long as you'll start answering my questions with more than one syllable."

I groaned. "That's blackmail."

"Those are my terms."

"Dammit, why do you even care?" I protested. "Isn't it our business if she decks me?"

Silena nodded thoughtfully. "It would be," she agreed, "If not for the fact that you two are absolutely _made_ for each other. Which means that if you two fight, I need to find out why. So. What stupid thing did you say right before she punched you?"

"I love how you assume it was something stupid," I grumbled.

"Well, going by your track record…"

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, whatever. I asked her what she was mad at me about."

Silena contemplated that. "Do you remember exactly what words you used?"

"Um… tell me what you're mad about?"

She nodded again, stroking her chin like a philosopher would stroke a beard. "Interesting, interesting. Now let me see. From what I know of Clarisse, I'm inclined to call Daddy issues on this one."

I blinked. "How very… Freudian. Care to elaborate?"

"It's not something she talks about often, but I can read between the lines. Honestly, do you think Ares would be a good father?"

I bit my lip. "Now isn't really the best time for me to answer that question," I said wryly. "The Powers That Be aren't too thrilled with me at the moment."

"I'll take that as a no. Now," she said, sitting up straight and pointing her finger at the ceiling. "Allow me to explain."

Oh, this was going to be good, I could tell.

I raised an eyebrow. "Please do."

"Clarisse, as you may have noticed, has a bit of a thing for bossing people around. Now, why is that? Ares kid thing, you say? Ah, but no, young Padawan," she said grandly. I elected to keep my mouth shut for the moment. "Her brothers don't, do they? It's just her. Now, why would that be? How is Clarisse different from her brothers? Well, you see, Clarisse has –"

I winced.

"– Two X chromosomes." Silena gave me a funny look. "Something wrong?"

"Nope. Carry on."

"Thank you. I will," she said graciously, back in psychologist mode instantly. "Now, one might think that Clarisse just happens to have a problem with authority, but this is not the case. Case in point: Chiron. She takes orders from him, doesn't she? Yes she does. Why?" She stared at me like she was actually expecting an answer.

"Because he's the camp director?" I said slowly, wondering where she could possibly be going with this.

"Well, yeah, but that's not the point. The point is that he has authority over her, but not power. I mean, think about it. What's the worst he could do to her? Kick her out of Camp Half-Blood? She wouldn't care. She obeys him because she feels like it, not because he can make her, and that's the only reason she obeys him at all. Get it?"

"… What?"

"Good. Now take Ares, on the other hand. She actually looks up to him. She does what he says because she wants to make him proud, and he has the power to grant or withhold his approval. He can actually make her feel like a success or a failure. And she doesn't like that, but there's nothing she can do about it."

Now that situation I could identify with. Gods were a pain in the ass.

"Fine. I mean, not fine, but… you know what I mean," I said. "But I still don't quite see how all of that results in me getting punched in the face."

"Now _that,_" Silena grinned ominously, "Is the interesting part."

Oh dear.

"You see, Chris, it's because Clarisse La Rue, Slayer of the Hydra and Bringer of the Fleece…" she paused for effect. "… Has a _mega_ crush on you."

I took a second to let that sink in. "I still don't get it."

Silena's face fell. Guess that wasn't the reaction she'd been hoping for. I mean, it was crazy to think Clarisse liked me, but it wasn't like it was news to me. I'd sort of gotten the message when she kissed me. And didn't immediately stab me when I kissed her.

"I mean, I get _that_ part," I clarified. "But not what it has to do with me getting punched. What, is it the teenage equivalent of throwing sticks at the kid you like in elementary school or something?"

Silena sighed. "No, that's when she tries to kill you during Capture the Flag. This is her hating the fact that you have power over her."

"… I do?"

"You do. Just by existing. And even more by not." She narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. "She'd cry if you died. I think you're the only person other than her mother that's true for. And she cried when you were dying."

It was a weird thought that Clarisse actually cared about me. Hades, it was weird to think of her caring about anyone. She was too tough for that. And–

"Whoa, wait a minute," I said, thoroughly nonplussed. "Dying? When the Hades was I _dying?_ I mean, I know I was insane, but…"

Silena stared at the table. I felt bad for putting her on the spot to tell me this, but honestly. How was I only finding this out now? Of course, there were probably a ton of little things like that, and I'd never know about them unless someone inadvertently mentioned them.

"For a while before Dionysus came back," she said quietly. "You wouldn't eat. But Chiron didn't even think that was the problem. It was the Labyrinth. You… I only saw you a few times. Anyone who wanted to had to get through Clarisse." She smiled weakly. "I was amazed you were alive at all. It seemed like a miracle that your heart was even beating. But… you seemed like you wanted to die. That's what was killing her. I think she thought you'd recognize her, and you'd care about her too, you know? That you couldn't fall any farther while she was there. But you did. She couldn't make you wake up, but you were destroying her. I think she still hates you for that."

I stared at her for a few seconds, totally stunned. How was I possibly supposed to reply to that? I had no idea what to think. I mean, I'd known it on some level, but… Hades. I felt awful. And it was a bit difficult to think straight, mostly because the two other Aphrodite girls were wailing brokenheartedly, makeup running down their faces. I'd forgotten they were even there.

Silena raised her hand threateningly, like she was about to issue a world-class bitchslap. The other two shut up immediately. I guess Clarisse wasn't the only abusive counselor, although the fact that the girls started giggling two seconds later made me doubt they actually took her that seriously.

"And _that,_" Silena finished, turning back to me, "Is why Clarisse is making your life miserable."

"Because she hates me? Why doesn't she just ignore me then? Or, you know, kill me or whatever?"

She rolled her eyes. "Because she also likes you. Gods, you're slow."

"I resent that," I protested. "You're contradicting yourself. Does she like me or does she hate me?"

"She hates you for the fact that she likes you."

"Duh," one of the other Aphrodites chimed in.

Thankfully, Chiron dismissed the class before I had to think of a comeback to that. I found myself waiting for Silena to gather her stuff even though I knew I'd be a lot happier in the long run if I just walked out now. I had a sneaking feeling that she knew what she was talking about, and I couldn't deny that I was curious. Things were already starting to make a bit more sense.

"So what am I supposed to do about that?" I asked. "Just act as sane as I can? 'Cause that's easier said than done."

"Nah, I wouldn't worry about that." She picked up a mirror and a tube of lipstick, jamming them into her bag. "Clarisse isn't. Not really. I mean, not acting like a lunatic is probably a good plan, but that's not what she's worried about."

"Well, do tell."

Silena tilted her head thoughtfully. "She's used to being able to defend herself with a spear, I guess. But that wouldn't really work in this case."

I raised an eyebrow. "It wouldn't? I haven't been to the Styx, you know."

"You know what I mean." I didn't, actually. She marched past me and out the door. "Look, I know this sounds cheesy, but she doesn't want to get hurt. She's used to being the best. She wouldn't like getting rejected."

"I'm not going to reject her."

Silena pursed her lips, leaning against the splintery outside wall of the cabin. "Mom will hate me for saying this, but… you don't know that. I mean, how well do you know her? Really know her? How's she supposed to know you won't just get bored? She's not the only girl who's interested in you. You're the only boy I know of who likes her. You've got power, like I said. And Clarisse–" she said with an enigmatic half-smile, "– Does not like that at _all_."

Other girls liked me? That was news. Bad news, if it really bothered Clarisse that much. Funny how she managed to turn things upside-down like that.

"Well… okay," was about all I could think of to say. "Still dunno what I'm supposed to do, though. I mean, what does she want?"

"Absolute certainty," Silena shrugged. "She'll make you hand over your heart and soul before she'll even admit she likes you."

I blinked. "Uh… how?"

"By making you miserable, obviously. Seeing how much you're willing to put up with for her. By punching you, for example."

"Huh," I said slowly, wondering what the Hades I was supposed to make of that. It was ominous, to say the least. Explained a lot, though. Not just the punch, but the fact that she'd deliberately mentioned the Labyrinth and had been committing random acts of violence against me pretty much since the end of June. And possibly also her tendency to pin me to things at every opportunity. I'd been wondering about that one.

"I think she'll get over it eventually," Silena continued. "I mean, it only took me like two months to make friends with her. It'll be a little harder in your case, obviously, but you'll get there."

More than two months of Clarisse being as evil as she possibly could? I winced. I did not like the sound of that. But if she really would trust me…

Did I want that, though? Wouldn't I just screw it up again? I mean, that was what I _did._ I messed things up. My whole life was damage control; always trying to redeem myself for whatever idiotic thing I'd done before. If she started to actually, honest-to-gods trust me, and I blew it… she'd never give anyone another chance again, least of all me.

Well, this time I'd just not mess it up, then.

**Yeah, good luck with that, bucko.**

**I've got a pretty excellent subplot planned, probably for around chapters 45-50 or so. There will be blood. And probably a bit of BILLY MAYS MODE, which I've gotten into the bad habit of using lately. What can I say? It's entertaining.**

**Eh. Anyway. Reviews appreciated, as always. More reviews actually do equal faster updates, since I have them sitting in my inbox all nice and pretty to inspire me to write instead of looking at pictures of cats.**


	43. You Look Like a Redneck's Wife

**In Which Chris Argues with Entities with Whom He Should Not Argue.**

**Again.**

**Oh, and you might want to make sure your mental image generator is running up to speed. Just sayin'.**

I found myself avoiding Clarisse for the next few days. I wasn't really sure why she'd suddenly decided she had a problem with me now, but she clearly had. Whenever we ran into each other, I always seemed to come out of the encounter with another bruise. And I couldn't stand the look she'd get whenever she glanced at the one on my face. I grimaced at the thought of what Silena would probably say about it.

I knew Silena was onto something about Clarisse, but I was pretty sure the reason for how she'd been treating me was a little more straightforward than a fear of rejection. Being after my heart and soul seemed a little fluffy for Clarisse. Power struck me as a bit more her speed.

Well, whatever. She'd give up eventually. It wasn't like she actually had any control over me, and she sure as Hades wasn't going to get any. I supposed the fact that she'd gotten away with punching me in the face was a little disconcerting, but in retrospect I had sort of been asking for that one, since I knew what I said would piss her off. I hadn't done much to deserve getting smacked with her spear handle after dinner, of course, or punched in the gut the next morning, but…

Huh. Yeah, this was getting a little weird.

But what the Hades was I supposed to do? Physically fighting back was out of the question. Argue with her? That would make it worse. Silena might have been able to help, but I couldn't bring myself to seek her out. Just ignore her and stay away until she was over it, whenever that might be? Probably the smartest plan. Except I couldn't do it. It wasn't even a conscious thing. I had no choice. She just drew me to her.

Oh, gods damn it. Dammit, dammit, dammit.

"Problem?" Beckendorf asked brusquely.

I jumped back, stifling a yelp as his hammer threw sparks toward me. Chiron offered year-rounders odd jobs now and then to earn some money, since it wasn't like we could get any from our parents, so Kieran and I were helping Beckendorf in the forges. Neither of us had a clue what we were doing. I'd already given myself a decent burn on my arm, and Kieran had one-upped me a few minutes later by setting his shirt on fire.

"Nope. Nothing," I said, wiping sweat from my forehead with my sleeve before changing my mind and just yanking my shirt off. Beckendorf didn't seem to even notice the temperature, even though it had to be a hundred and twenty degrees in there. I was pretty sure this must have been what Tartarus was like. Well, no. I'd been a lot closer to Tartarus than this.

"Great. Chuck me that sword, then." Beckendorf's voice was harsh, but I got the distinct feeling he was trying not to laugh. I handed him the sword, cursing when I realized a little too late that it was about eighty degrees hotter than I'd expected it to be. Significantly sharper, too.

Kieran snickered as I yelped and shook a few drops of blood from my fingertips. "Nice."

"You should talk," I shot back grumpily, leaning half my weight on the huge set of bellows at Beckendorf's gesture. The blast of heat was enough to send me scrambling backwards. The son of Hephaestus didn't seem to notice it, even though I was pretty sure the fire had actually touched his hand. He squinted at me in the burst of light.

"Damn, Chris," he commented. "You look like a redneck's wife after the Bud was on sale."

"I look like _what?_" I cried indignantly, studiously ignoring Kieran's hysterical laughter from somewhere behind me.

"That's what you get for chasing my sister," he cackled.

Beckendorf frowned. "You did that, Kieran? Your brothers?"

He laughed even harder. "Nope. Clarisse."

Beckendorf stared at me for a few seconds. The corner of his mouth twitched. Then he started guffawing like a thirteen-year-old boy at a dirty joke. I had never even seen him smile before.

"It's not that funny," I complained. "What am I s'posed to do, punch her back?"

Kieran was suddenly right in my face. "Oh Hades no," he growled.

"Cool it, I didn't say I was going to," I said, taking a step back and raising my hands placatingly. I really needed to start remembering he was an Ares kid before he chucked me into a furnace or something. If Clarisse didn't beat him to it.

"Oh, okay." He backed off, suddenly perfectly friendly again. Yet again, I thanked my lucky stars that no one had witnessed what had happened at the arena, particularly any Ares guys. That could have led to an ugly situation.

Beckendorf rolled his eyes and threw the newly-forged sword into a tub of water behind us, missing our heads by about an inch. "Real mature, you two."

"Hey, I'm not the one comparing people to rednecks' wives," I grumbled. Kieran snickered again. "Ah, shut your trap."

"Yeah, whatever," Beckendorf said. "You two hear about Lexi?"

"Lexi?" Kieran asked quizzically.

"Aphrodite girl," Beckendorf said. "She got captured. Her dad called a few hours ago, I guess, asking Chiron what to do."

"Are you serious? Where is she? Is Chiron sending anyone?" Kieran asked. He looked like he was ready to run out the door there and then, even though he'd asked who Lexi was two seconds ago.

"She got taken somewhere in Richmond, but she could be anywhere by now. Depends on where they have a base, I guess."

Richmond…

That blond kid with the shabby armor. My second day, third maybe, on the Andromeda. And another kid, no more than thirteen, black-haired and skinny.

_Where are you getting off?_

_Dunno. No assignment yet. You?_

_Norfolk, I think. I heard they're trying to assemble a base in Richmond. Near the highway, I guess._

"She's still there," I said. "Probably."

"Huh? Still where?" Kieran asked.

"Richmond. There's a base somewhere near the highway. I think."

Beckendorf squinted at me. "You sure about that?"

"Pretty sure," I shrugged. "I mean, it was a while ago, but I just remembered. You think I should tell Chiron?"

"Yeah. Better go now," Beckendorf agreed.

I nodded and ducked out the door, wondering why it had been closed in the first place. It was freaking hot in there. Undoubtedly some complicated forge physics I'd never understand. I shrugged and swung it shut again, figuring I could make Kieran suffer if nothing else.

"Uh."

I glanced down the steps to see Clarisse staring at me. "Hey, Clementine," I said resignedly. "If you're gonna hit me, try to make it quick. I have to tell Chiron something."

"Hmph," she replied eloquently, not meeting my eyes, which was weird for her. Usually she stared me down.

"Uh, yeah, great," I said bemusedly, dodging past her and heading for the Big House.

She rolled her eyes and caught up to me. "I was on my way up there. What're you telling him?"

"I think I just remembered where a Titan base is. Beckendorf mentioned Richmond. I'm pretty sure there's one there."

"That's where they kidnapped whatshername!" she exclaimed, before apparently remembering that she was mad at me by default and returning to her usual scowl.

"Yeah, I know. That's what we were talking about when he said it." We grimaced simultaneously as we passed the Aphrodite cabin. They were playing dance music loudly enough to rattle the windows. "What the Hades does 'slizzared' mean, anyway?"

Clarisse rolled her eyes. "Who knows." She glanced up to me, then back to the ground, like she was trying to decide whether to say something.

"What?" I asked, knowing it would probably piss her off.

Sure enough, she glared at me. "Nothing," she said, a little indignantly.

I shrugged. "Okay."

We walked a little farther in silence before she looked up again. "I was just going to ask what this was from," she said neutrally, gesturing at the jagged scar across the front of my shoulder.

"Scorpion."

She tilted her head. "You never mentioned a scorpion. In the maze?"

"It didn't seem important," I said, a little testily. "You really wanted to hear about every monster that tried to kill me? It would've taken kind of a while."

"Not every monster that tried to kill you. Just the ones that almost succeeded," she said pointedly. "Was that what got your back, too?"

"Yup. And my arm. Son of a bitch kicked my ass," I admitted. "Mary saved me."

"Healed you?"

"Yeah. But she killed it, too," I said reluctantly, fully aware I was going to sorely regret telling Clarisse that, but unwilling to disrespect Mary by keeping it a secret.

Clarisse nodded slowly, raising an eyebrow. "Mary killed the scorpion."

"Yup."

"After it stung you three times."

"That's what I said."

She stared at me for a moment, then burst out laughing. "Hades, Chris, were you asleep at the time or something? That's pathetic!"

I winced mentally. Yeah, I probably deserved that one. Still, it… well… stung. Clarisse was way too good at messing with me, and the fact that she was doing it on purpose made it worse. Maybe she'd realized there was only so much she could hurt me by hitting me.

"I don't like scorpions, okay?" I muttered. "I just hesitated. And once it hit me, I had no chance."

"Yeah, right," she scoffed, pointing at a thick pink line across her upper arm. "One of the activities while you were gone had giant scorpions. I got stung. And I still won."

"So? It wasn't even the same kind!" I argued.

"Not the same kind?" she said mockingly. "Just 'cause you're a wuss–"

"You honestly think Chiron would've gotten one with venom that's supposed to cause you enough pain that you can't fight back?" I protested, cutting her off. "You think I'd let a ten-year-old fight a monster if I wasn't quite literally dying in agony? It fucking _hurt,_ okay?"

For one crazy moment, I thought she might apologize. Nope. She rolled her eyes again and snorted. "Drama queen."

"You really think so, or are you just being evil?" I grumbled.

Clarisse gave me a weird look. "What kind of question is that?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. Just curious, I guess."

She nodded slowly. "Evil, huh," she said thoughtfully. "I don't know about evil, but I'm pretty sure I've always been a bitch. You're really just figuring that out now?"

"No, but– I mean, you– you aren't– I–" I stuttered helplessly for a few seconds before sighing. "I don't think you're a bitch. I'm just wondering why you're, uh…"

"Being bitchy?"

"I guess. Why you're doing it to me in particular, I mean."

Clarisse raised an eyebrow. "I feel like we've had this conversation before."

"Yeah, well, punching me in the face wasn't really a good answer. Mind clarifying that a little?" I said irritably.

She laughed out loud. "That's the most straightforward answer you're gonna get, Rodriguez."

From you, at least, I thought to myself. I didn't need a straight answer if Silena was right.

"Yeah, whatever," I muttered, stomping up and Big House steps. "Are we supposed to knock or what?" Before she could answer me, the door flew open.

"Oh, hey guys!" Silena said brightly. "I was just about to get you, Clarisse. Emergency counselor meeting, but I guess you heard. You seen Beckendorf?" She glanced at me and blinked. "Any particular reason you're not wearing a shirt? Not that I'm complaining or anything, but..."

"I was in the forge," I replied, pulling my shirt back on when I realized I should probably be fully clothed before going into the Big House. "Beckendorf's still in there."

Clarisse frowned. "Since when do you know how to smith?"

"Since never. I was just helping Beckendorf. Or trying to, at least."

Silena's eyes widened. "Ooh! You think he took his shirt off too?"

I stared at her for a second. "You can't really ask a guy if he noticed something like that," I pointed out. "It's a little…"

"_Did he?_" Silena barked, pinning me with a genuinely scary glare.

I gulped. "I think so?"

She shoved past us and was gone instantly, bright red heels flashing in the sun. I figured running in stilettos was probably another one of those Aphrodite-kid skills.

Clarisse stared after her, biting her lip like she was trying not to laugh. "You know, Chris, I think you just might be the most easily intimidated guy I know."

I huffed. "Am not. She's scary. You said it yourself."

"True," she sighed.

We looked through the doorway, wondering what we were supposed to do. Knock even though it was open? Just walk in? I didn't come to the Big House that often, so I decided to just see what Clarisse would do.

"Hello?" she yelled. All right then.

"Come in," Chiron's voice called.

I followed her in, managing not to scowl or roll my eyes when I caught sight of Dionysus. He shot me a smug little half-smile.

"Ah, Clarisse, there you are," Chiron said as I pulled the door shut behind me. "The other counselors are in the rec room. I'll be in there in a minute. Chris, did you need something or were you just keeping Clarisse company?"

Clarisse made a skeptical huffing noise at his comment and set off for the rec room. I groaned internally, praying that Chiron wouldn't decide the counselors needed to hear my little testimony.

"Beckendorf mentioned Richmond, and I remembered hearing about a base there. Somewhere near the highway," I said, pointedly avoiding Dionysus' mocking stare. "I mean, you might've known that already, but… yeah. Lexi's probably still there."

Chiron's eyebrows rose. "I did not know that. That certainly saves us the trouble of figuring out where they took her."

"You really think she's still alive?" I asked before I could stop myself.

"They didn't kill you."

"They would've if I didn't take the oath," I argued, hating myself for even saying the words, particularly in front of Dionysus. "I mean, if they've got more kid demigods they could just use the same trick on her, I guess, but I don't think they'd think of that. Luke's the only one who really knew why I joined."

"And you honestly think he won't force her to join if he knows how?" Dionysus sniffed. "He _is_ evil, if you'd forgotten."

"No he's not," I snapped without thinking. "He was angry, and now he's trapped. Hades, I owe the guy my life. Kronos' army doesn't generally go out of its way to nicely talk Camp Half-Blood kids into switching sides if they don't already want to. They would've just killed me."

Chiron closed his eyes, clearly resigned to part _deux _of our spectacularly unfair battle of wills.

"You owe Luke your life, really?" Dionysus replied, smirking. "Oh, that just fills me with confidence about your loyalty to Olympus. "

"You said you didn't trust me in the first place. And I'm not going to try to stop you from killing Luke. I just don't think he's evil."

His grin widened. "I would certainly hope not, because as you might recall, you owe me your life as well."

"Yeah, you've mentioned," I grumbled.

"Only because you seem likely to forget," he said serenely. "And you're absolutely right that I don't trust you. You honestly think Olympus can't tell that you resent us?"

"Well, why do you think that might be?" I protested. "Yeah, I was kind of pissed that you guys let me sit in a basement for six months. And when I _dared_ to express that, you–"

"Express anger? I seem to recall you calling my mother a bitch," Dionysus said dangerously. "_Olympus_ didn't break your arm. I did."

I saw the danger signals. I chose to ignore them. "Yeah, well, good for you. But unless you were the one who tripped me when I was running from the scorpion the other day, and told Apollo not to heal me unless I seemed sorry, you're not the only one who's holding it against me."

"Oh, did someone do those things?" he said innocently. "Because I didn't, actually. I never thought I'd find myself saying these words to you, but you must be right. Olympus _does_ have a grudge against you. I guess you'd better watch yourself, then. You can start by apologizing to me."

"For what?" I said disbelievingly.

He shrugged. "I don't know. For being annoying. You said Apollo wasn't supposed to heal you unless you seemed sorry?"

"Yeah." I already had a bad feeling about this.

"Well, that's strange, because you don't seem very sorry to me. Maybe I should break your bones again and see if it sticks this time," he hissed.

"Fine," I spat. "Prove me right. Maybe everyone else will figure out you're not worth following someday."

Somewhere off to my left, Chiron sighed. I figured he was supposed to be running the counselor's meeting, but was afraid of what would happen if he left.

Dionysus laughed harshly. "Someday? Oh, undoubtedly. Even deities rise and fall; everyone knows that. But do you honestly think humanity would survive the fall of Olympus? Of course it will happen. But you'll never see it. Because you'll be dead."

"I guess." I thought for a moment. "What would you do it Pollux said something bad about another Olympian? And they deserved it, but he was punished anyway?"

For a split second, he hesitated, but his face split into its customary sneer almost instantly. "Oh, very good argument," he snapped sarcastically. "Two problems. One, Pollux is actually a loyal, faithful demigod and would never speak ill of a god. And two, you most certainly were not justified to hold anything against us, if that's what you're clumsily trying to imply."

"Whoever decided blind loyalty and faith are virtues was an idiot," I growled. "There's no reason I shouldn't criticize you. Just because you can kill me doesn't make you right."

"Excuse me, you two?" Chiron said wearily. "I have to go. Please don't kill each other."

"Sure, sure," Dionysus said, waving him off before turning to glare at me again. "Huh. Kill each other, indeed. Well, I can certainly promise _that_ won't happen. Unless you have the capability to kill off enough of the human race to make the Olympians fade, which I doubt."

"I dunno," I said thoughtfully. "I could start a global nuclear war. Or engineer a pandemic. Or–"

"Yes, yes, very good, but you _wouldn't,_" he said impatiently.

I raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't I?" I smirked. I wouldn't, of course, but I had to admit I sort of liked the direction the argument had taken. The idea of me single-handedly bringing down Olympus was a very satisfying one to put out there. Obviously none of them would ever believe I could do it, but the realization that it was technically possible wouldn't sit well with them at all.

"Commit genocide? I sincerely doubt it," Dionysus said flatly, but I swore I could see a tiny flicker of doubt in his eyes. Hah.

I shrugged. "That's understandable. It's a long shot. Just a thought, you know?" I said with an affable smile.

Mr. D stared at me for a second, eyes narrowed. "Well, stop thinking it. Come to think of it, get out of here before I _make_ you stop thinking it."

I grinned at him, bowed sarcastically and darted out the door before he could decide to strangle me with grapevines or something. My odds had to be running lower. Honestly, I was pretty sure the only reason he hadn't killed me yet was because I always made him so mad he didn't even think of it.

Beckendorf and Silena were at the bottom of the steps. Both of them were blushing.

"Oh, uh, hey Chris," Beckendorf said. I had never seen him so flustered, although it wasn't hard to guess what had caused it.

"Hey," I said, jumping down the stairway in one go. I lowered my voice. "You, uh, might want to watch it with Dionysus. I think I put him in a bad mood. Relatively speaking."

Silena tilted her head. "How?"

"I think I might have sort of threatened genocide. Closer to incomplete omnicide, really."

"Omnicide," Beckendorf repeated slowly. "Can I ask why?"

"It just sort of happened. One of those things, you know?" I shrugged. "I think the counselors' meeting already started, by the way."

They stared at me for a second, but eventually walked past me and into the Big House. So much for acting sane, I realized a second later. Ah well. I was entitled to a few lapses in judgment, just like everybody else. Besides, it wasn't like I actually meant it.

But the Olympians didn't know that, did they?

**What a Looney tune. *****rolls eyes* I'm starting to suspect that he suffers from mood swings.**


	44. Insane Troll Logic

**Okay, so I was kind of disappointed by the last chapter, but I think this one's a little better. Anyway, you decide.**

I ran into Kieran again on my way back to the Hermes cabin. I could tell from a hundred yards off that he was pissed, leaning against the wall of Cabin Five with his hands in his pockets and his shoulders set like he was just daring anyone to try to talk to him. So of course, that was exactly what I set off to do.

"That a black eye?" I asked. If it was, either it was an old one and I just hadn't noticed in the forge, or he'd gotten it a few minutes ago and it was just starting to swell.

Kieran glared. "Do not even think about it," he growled.

"Nah. Too easy." Actually, I'd been two seconds away from asking who looked like a redneck's wife now, but decided to be nice. "Mind telling me how it happened?"

He looked at me suspiciously, obviously trying to figure out whether I was going to make fun of him or not. I hadn't quite decided yet, actually. It sort of depended on how it had happened. "Beckendorf," he finally muttered.

"Beckendorf?" I said incredulously.

"Beckendorf."

"Huh." I took a minute to digest that. "Uh… why? When? How? What?" Honestly, since when was Beckendorf that type? I didn't think I'd ever given anyone a black eye, and I was way more likely to hit someone than him.

Kieran rolled his eyes. "Because he was pissed. Like two minutes ago. By punching me. Dunno how to answer that last one."

I whistled. "Damn. The Hades did you do?"

He gave me a look. "I didn't do anything."

"Well, sorry," I said. "I mean, an Ares guy and Beckendorf get in a fight, can you blame me for thinking you threw the first punch?"

I was half-expecting him to get mad at me– more so than he already was, at least– but he actually laughed. "Yeah, I guess that's fair. I didn't punch him at all. He just slugged me and walked out."

"Huh," I mused. "We must've rubbed off on him."

"Gods, I hope not," Kieran said darkly. "We may have created a monster. He punches _hard_. I'm pretty sure I blacked out for a few seconds." The skin around his eye had gotten darker in the few minutes we'd been talking. I winced just looking at it. No offense to Clarisse, but I'd take a punch from her any day. At least she couldn't knock me out. Then again, she probably hadn't been trying.

"Damn. Why'd he do it? Since when does Beckendorf deck people?"

Kieran's face darkened again. "He was mad."

I was a split second away from asking him to clarify when I realized something I probably should have figured out a while ago: he clearly didn't want to tell me. Which was frustrating as Hades, but I figured he had a right to keep it to himself.

Or, if I was being honest with myself, I knew I could just ask Silena. No point in pissing Kieran off any more by harassing him about it.

"Huh," I said. "Well, I'll make sure not to make him mad."

"Sounds like a good plan," he agreed darkly.

I grabbed some clean clothes, stopped at the showers, and headed back into the Hermes cabin, still trying to figure out what Kieran could possibly have done in the few minutes between when I'd left and when Silena got there that could get Beckendorf to snap like that. Unless, of course, Silena had something to do with it, which I supposed was a definite possibility. Violence and puppy love were inextricably intertwined, particularly where Ares kids were concerned. I could attest to that.

I sighed when I noticed the math textbook open on my bed. Chiron had been trying to get me started on my schoolwork already, since I had one year to learn two years' worth of material unless I wanted to start college a year late. I did not. Of course, I also didn't particularly want to study calculus, stats, lit, more lit, physics, biopsych, European history, and probably five more subjects I couldn't even remember, but I didn't see that I had much of a choice.

So, I thought wearily, flopping onto my bed on my stomach. Integrals and derivatives and all that jazz. Great. Let's do this. I picked up a pencil, staring blankly at the problem and trying to figure out what the Hades I'd been doing when I left off on it. Three seconds later I sat up again, yanked my shirt back off, and flopped back onto my stomach. It was almost as hot in here as it was in the forge. There was no way I was going to be able to concentrate, but again, no choice. Unless I wanted to basically fail a grade. I didn't really know why it bothered me. I mean, I had a pretty damn good excuse, and it wasn't like I prided myself on being a particularly smart guy anyway, so it shouldn't have hurt my pride too much. And yet here I was, doing math in August.

The door squeaked. I jumped, cursing the fact that I had to focus so hard to do math that someone opening the door could give me a spazz attack. Demigod thing, I figured. I'd heard a rumor that sneaking up on an Athena kid who was doing multivariate calc was suicide.

"Chris?" Clarisse's voice said.

"Up here," I grumbled, erasing a few lines where I'd inadvertently used some kind of insane troll logic and ended up canceling out half my terms. This was really not my strong suit. Fighting hellhounds, yes. Calculus, no.

Clarisse shut the door and stared at my bed, scratching her head. "You got a ladder?"

"Not enough space. You just climb the headboard. You need something?" I factored out 4_x _irritably, yawning. A full night's sleep probably would have made this easier.

Clarisse strolled over to my bed and clambered onto the bottom bunk's headboard, leaning over my headboard and glancing at my textbook.

Oh look, my subconscious said brightly. It's Clarisse. And you. In your cabin. With no one else around. Wow, she looks nice today.

Shut the Hades up, I growled back at it.

"Damn, Chris," Clarisse commented neutrally. "I thought you were a moron. You've been holding out on me."

I stared at her stupidly. "What?"

She rolled her eyes. "Never mind, I was right the first time."

Not for the first time, I wondered whether she really was as oblivious as she acted. I mean, she lived in a cabin full of boys, didn't she? Her best friend was the counselor of the Aphrodite cabin. She couldn't be totally clueless. But she did a damn good job of acting like it.

"You can't do that," she said, pointing at my paper and jerking me back to reality. "That's only if the terms are multiplied."

"Dammit," I muttered. "Please don't tell Chiron. He'd laugh at me."

"No problem. As long as you're not shooting for a job in nuclear engineering I think you ought to be fine."

I half-smiled, not so much at what she'd said than at the realization that it was the most supportive thing she'd said to me in days. "Fair enough."

Clarisse nodded distantly, staring over my head at the cabin wall, still balanced on Travis' headboard. "Chiron's considering sending you after Lexi," she said out of nowhere.

I raised my eyebrows. I certainly hadn't been expecting that. It sort of made sense, I guess. Sending a Hermes kid was logical. So was sending an older kid. But I was surprised Chiron had that much faith in my mental stability.

"Katie suggested it, actually," Clarisse continued. I swore I saw her glare for a split second, like she wanted to bash the Demeter girl's head in.

"Uh, cool," I finally said, not quite sure how she was expecting me to feel about it. I was okay with it, I guess. There was a nasty little voice in the back of my head that kept whispering the word _expendable,_ but I chose to ignore it.

Clarisse huffed. "Yeah, well. It's not decided yet. Chiron wanted me to ask if you were up for it."

I shrugged. "Sure, I guess."

"I mean, you might have to fight Luke."

"I wouldn't like it, but I could do it."

"And the girl might be dead before you get there," she said darkly.

"That doesn't mean I shouldn't try, does it?"

"Could be underground."

I propped myself up so that I was looking at her eye-to-eye. "You don't want me to go," I said evenly.

She drew back. "What? No. I mean yes. I mean, whatever."

I felt a smirk creeping across my face despite myself. "I appreciate your concern, Clementine, but I'll be fine."

"You _did _promise." For a split second, she looked totally earnest, then she seemed to realize what she'd just said. She gritted her teeth. I raised an eyebrow, wondering what she'd say to wriggle out of that one. She didn't. She just sighed, glared a hole in the wall for a few more seconds, then returned her gaze to me. "You did_,_ punk."

"Yeah, I guess so," I said slowly.

Clarisse sighed again. "And I hope you meant it, because by 'it's not decided yet' I pretty much meant 'you're going unless you flat-out refuse.'"

"Clarisse…" I said uncomfortably. "That kind of promise… I mean… it wasn't really meant to be taken literally, across-the-board. I'd never go down without a fight, you know that, but whether or not I'm okay in the end isn't really up to me."

She bit the inside of her lip. I was wondering whether I was about to be treated to actual emotion or another punch in the face when she just muttered, "Yeah, I know." She glared at me for a few more seconds. "That was a really stupid promise to make, Rodriguez."

I shrugged apologetically. "Doing stupid stuff is kind of my thing."

"Like calculus?"

"Exactly like calculus."

She actually laughed. "Good luck with that. Almost killed me last year. If you need help and the Athena kids all die in a plague or something, let me know."

"Thanks," I said, surprised and genuinely appreciative. I wasn't surprised that Clarisse could do calculus; just that she had offered to help me. Although I kind of wanted to announce to camp that she could do it. I doubted many people thought she was that smart. For some reason, that really bothered me. I wondered if it bothered her. If it did, she'd never let on.

"No problem. Now put your clothes back on, Chiron wants to see you."

"Gods dammit, I was just up there," I complained, tracking down my shirt and trying to pretend I wasn't turning bright red. She _had_ to know what a weird thing that was to say. Right?

"Might want your sword," she commented as I vaulted over the side of my bed and put a hand on the doorknob.

"What, to go to the Big House?"

She gave me a look. "No, to go to Richmond. You think we're going to leave her there for days? We're going _now._"

"Oh. Right," I said, feeling like even more of an idiot than usual. "Wait, _we?_"

"We."

"Oh," I said again, trying to decide how I felt about that. "Uh, all right, I guess. Anyone else?"

"Nope. Chiron just wanted to send you," she said, following me out the door after I buckled my sword belt on. "Getting him to let me go was hard enough."

"Maybe he had a reason for not wanting you to go," I pointed out hesitantly.

"Like what?" she grumbled. She didn't say it, but the _anything you can do I can do better_ sentiment was pretty apparent from her tone.

"Like run really fast?" I suggested. "And be sneaky."

Clarisse rolled her eyes. "You're not sneaky."

Of course, she was talking to thin air, because I'd realized she was going to say something like that and slipped behind the wall of the Apollo cabin as we passed it.

"What the– Chris?"

I waited until I knew somehow that she'd have looked behind her and turned forward again. As soon as I sensed that she wasn't looking in my direction, I darted out and stood just behind her right shoulder, opposite from where I was before. Clarisse turned, jumped, and glared. I smirked. Her eyes narrowed even more, and she punched me on the shoulder hard enough to make me yelp.

"The Hades was that for?" I protested.

"You use your skills, I use mine," she said serenely, marching off toward the Big House again.

Well, that was fair enough, I supposed.

Would we actually get a quest, I wondered? Or would he just send us out there? Getting a quest would be kind of cool, but somehow I doubted it. Rescuing a single missing demigod just didn't seem like the kind of mission that the Oracle would find important enough to concern itself with.

Well, screw it. I didn't need a quest. _We_ didn't need a quest. Besides, somebody always died on quests, and they always wanted three people. I sort of liked the idea of just Clarisse and I working together. Okay, I _really_ liked the idea.

The possibility crossed my mind that this might not be such a good idea. What if Olympus really didn't like me? Like, _really_ didn't? Enough to take me down, and maybe bring Clarisse with me? They wouldn't. Would they? And it wasn't like they couldn't just kill me in camp if they really wanted to. Still, it was an unsettling thought. I resolved to try to be a bit more politic toward them until we made it back. I knew I'd fail, of course. But I'd give it a good-faith effort. Literally.

"What're you looking at?"

I looked up, surprised, and found myself facing Clarisse's suspicious glare. I traced my previous line of sight and groaned mentally when I realized it led straight to a cluster of nymphs. They lounged against tree trunks at the edge of the woods, smiling seductively at me and sticking their tongues out at Clarisse.

"I wasn't," I said exasperatedly. "I was just zoned out."

"Oh yeah? What were you thinking about?"

"Wondering why Beckendorf punched Kieran," I said, since it was the first thing that popped into my head. I wasn't sure why I didn't want to tell her the truth, but I didn't.

"Beckendorf punched Kieran?"

"Yup." In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have told her that either, since it wasn't really any of my business. But it wasn't like she wouldn't have found out anyway.

"Hmm," Clarisse said thoughtfully. "Was Silena around?"

"Think so, yeah. Why?"

Now Clarisse looked uncomfortable, like the answer was something _I_ wasn't really supposed to know. "They've just, uh, got a bit of a history," she mumbled. "Silena and Kieran, that is."

I nodded, content to leave it at that, but then a sort of nasty thought occurred to me. "He was her broken heart, wasn't he?"

Clarisse nodded unhappily. "This spring. Everyone saw it coming but him. I mean, she clearly liked Beckendorf. She didn't want to do it to him. So she got Kieran to fall in love with her instead, then she dumped him. Now she doesn't have to do it to Beckendorf, if they ever even get together."

"Huh," I said, since I didn't have a more intelligent reply. I knew the Aphrodites had to do that, but I'd never thought about it much. It had never struck me as a big deal. Who cared if people got their hearts broken? They'd get over it. I wasn't so sure now. I mean, Clarisse and I weren't even a thing, and I didn't like the thought of how I'd feel if she suddenly decided she wanted nothing to do with me. And if I hadn't broken her heart when I left, I certainly did when I got back, or at least put a pretty solid ding in it. But Clarisse didn't seem to hold it against Silena.

"She didn't have a choice," Clarisse said defensively, like she'd been reading my mind. "They have to understand."

"Understand what? How to play people?"

"That love is cruel." She knocked on the door of the Big House without looking at me.

"Tell me about it," I muttered.

**Weird place for an ending, I know, sorry. Stuff will actually happen in the next chapter. Exciting, no? Reviews even more appreciated than usual, because I'm sort of worried I lost everybody due to the ridiculously long gap between updates. Sorry about that, by the way.**

**Dunno who originally came up with the whole Aphrodites-have-to-break-hearts thing, or if it's canon, but I've seen it enough that I figured I'm allowed to use it.**

**To whoever was bothered by me not replying to reviews, I'm sorry, I know I suck at that. I usually only reply if I think I have something semi-constructive to say or if you asked a direct question, since I figure the "thanks for reviewing :)" is sort of implied, and honestly, do you really want that clogging up your inbox? But anyway, I'll try to be better about that from now on. **


	45. Good Morning Sunshine

**I'm thinking I might do National Novel Writing Month this year. So whoopdedoo for me and all, but I might be neglecting my fanfics a bit. As always, I have no intention of abandoning this, but you might not hear from me until, well, December. Sorry about that. But you can expect some holiday-themed fluff, so there's that. :D**

"Honestly, Chris, what is _with_ you? You're acting like you've never been on a train before," Clarisse said, shouldering me.

I turned from the window I'd been staring out like a little kid for the last twenty minutes. She stared at me. I raised a wordless eyebrow, waiting for her to realize the obvious.

"Right," she muttered. "Forgot about that."

"Don't worry about it."

"I wasn't apologizing."

I rolled my eyes. "Of course not. Silly me."

There were a few seconds of silence, aside from the rumble of the train on the tracks, the rain on the windows, and the dude behind us snoring. It had been dinnertime before we actually got out of camp, and the earliest train we could catch hadn't left until dusk. We wouldn't reach Richmond until several hours past midnight.

Clarisse yawned. Unlike me, she probably wasn't used to staying up until the wee hours of the morning. "Wish you were wearing a polo. You oughta pop your collar."

"Huh?"

"It'd go with the image," she elaborated, gesturing at my sword. It was leaning against the wall next to me, disguised as a lacrosse stick. Maimer was a field hockey stick. Clarisse had insisted on bringing her armor in a duffel bag, so Chiron had Misted it to look like a goalie's padding. She'd still look a little weird running up Monument Avenue in it– Chiron had forced us to bring maps and memorize them as best we could on the trip– but it was better than bright red Greek armor.

"You think I could pull off the lax bro look?" I said dubiously, looking at my dim reflection in the window. It was dark in the train, but it was even darker outside. It was kind of creepy, actually.

"Maybe with some hair gel," she said with another yawn. "You're certainly tan enough."

"Oh, real nice," I laughed quietly, nonetheless earning a grumble from the man behind us.

"Where was your mom from?" Clarisse asked after a few seconds of what seemed suspiciously like hesitation.

"Colombia. She went to college and grad school here. That's when she met Hermes, I guess, although she never told me who he was. Dunno if she even knew. But her student visa expired while she was pregnant with me and she couldn't get a work visa, so she went back."

"Hmm," Clarisse said vaguely, like she didn't really have a reply.

"I think she wanted to go, anyway. She could've found a job here if she really wanted to."

"You remember it? Colombia?" she asked. She was obviously trying to seem alert, but I could tell she was tired. I wondered whether she was actually interested or just trying to keep herself awake.

"Pretty well. It was nice. Where I was, anyway. It's not all drug cartels and illegal plantations." I looked at my watch, a new one I'd grabbed from the camp store right before we left. I couldn't quite remember what happened to my old one. "It's one in the morning, you know. You can go to sleep if you want."

The Labyrinth. Right. The battery had died right before Mary did, and I had thrown it away.

Clarisse stifled a yawn unsuccessfully. "No, I'm fine."

"Come on, Clementine, we're only on here for a few more hours. Shouldn't at least one of us be lucid while we're fighting monsters? You're gonna be the one watching my back, you know."

She gave me a look. "And you'll be the one watching mine. What makes you think I want to get stabbed in the back any more than you do?"

Well, that one blew up in my face.

"I'm not going to sleep anyway," I attempted. "You might as well –"

"What the Hades is that supposed to mean?" she protested. "You're still having nightmares?"

"Forget it," I groaned, cursing my own idiocy for bringing it up. "Look, I'll wake you up in two hours, okay?"

She glared at me for a few seconds, but I knew she'd give in by the way her eyelids drooped. I wondered how early she'd gotten up that morning. Probably several hours before me, or anyone else. "Fine," she growled.

"Great." I stood up and slipped past her into the aisle.

"Where're you going?" she asked, clearly bemused, and maybe a little dismayed.

"Your seat."

"Excuse me?" she squawked.

I huffed, mentally facepalming for the second time in as many minutes. "Not with you in it. Scoot over. If I'm staying awake, I should be in the aisle seat."

"Oh."

I settled down next to her, tapping my sword-slash-lacrosse-stick against my calf and wondering what to do for the next two hours. Clarisse already looked like she was half-asleep. Her eyes were closed, but her eyelids were flickering, and I could tell she was still gauging exactly how she felt about this whole situation. The rain whipped against the window behind her, shimmering grey droplets against the pitch black. And for some reason I couldn't put my finger on, I suddenly didn't want her in the window seat.

But that was crazy. The train was moving way too fast, and it wasn't like there was anywhere outside for something to stand. What was I afraid of, dementors? It was way more likely that there was a monster on the train. And if it wanted to get to her, it would have to go through me, which was why I had to be right here. So why was I finding myself watching the window instead of the door to the car in front of us?

I forced myself to scan our car for the eightieth time. Clarisse had had the foresight to have us sit in the last car so that we didn't have to watch our backs. I mean, technically a monster could be behind us, but I'd looked at the other members of our car and none of them gave me that cold, prickly feeling that monsters always did. You didn't have to see the fangs to sense the malice. As long as I could make eye contact, I was confident I'd know a monster when I saw one.

I noticed that Clarisse was sitting upright, even though I could tell by her breathing that she was almost asleep, if not all the way there. It was weird. Almost like some instinct was preventing her from leaning against the window. And of course there was no way in Hades she'd lean on me.

Until she did.

Huh.

She slumped against my shoulder, long brown hair brushing my arm. I froze, smiled like an idiot for a second, then wiped it off my face just as fast. She'd kill me the instant she woke up. I didn't care.

Clarisse asleep on my shoulder or not, I was still a demigod, and I couldn't sit still doing nothing for two hours. I pulled my backpack onto my lap with my free arm. Clarisse mumbled something, but didn't wake up. I dug around in the bag until I found the book Chiron was making me read, _David Copperfield._ I'd read it before, long enough ago that I couldn't not read it again and just BS it, but recently enough that I remembered what happened. I probably should have mentioned that the Chiron when he assigned it, but I was pretty sure I'd been sulking about something or other at the time. Go figure.

So I sat there for two hours, simultaneously totally relaxed and ridiculously tense. Every time I'd finally get into the book, either Clarisse would shift or there'd be something going on with the window– a click against the glass just loud enough that I couldn't be sure I hadn't imagined it, or a tiny bit of movement in the corner of my eye that I'd try to convince myself was just my reflection.

I spun my swordpoint against the ground after yet another barely perceptible noise made me jump, observing the window warily. I'd noticed that my sword flickered into its true form, to me at least, every time I found myself half-expecting to use it. Which I was pretty happy about. I didn't like the idea of fighting a hellhound with a lacrosse stick. Dying was one thing. Looking stupid while doing it was another thing entirely.

I forced myself to pay attention to the book again. And succeeded, for about two minutes. Then the field hockey stick finally slipped from Clarisse's hand and fell against my side. Which would have been fine, if not for the fact that it packed about two hundred volts.

I bit back a yelp, barely, and reared away from it. I guess it must have been enchanted not to affect Clarisse, because even though the current should've traveled through me to her, she didn't seem to get shocked. Still, the combination of the weapon falling from her hand and me flinching was enough to wake her up. And of course, being Clarisse, she couldn't just yawn and stretch. No, she'd somehow conditioned herself to react to being woken up abruptly by pinning my shoulders to the seat and jamming Maimer– which had turned back into a spear, go figure– under my chin. For about the twentieth time.

"Oh," she said, blinking.

"Yup," I grumbled. "Good morning, Sunshine."

She pulled Maimer back and grabbed my wrist to check the time on my watch. "My turn."

"I'm fine, you can… uh…" I wondered if making me shut up with a single look was a skill unique to Clarisse. "Okay."

We switched places again. I stared at the window distrustfully, eventually deciding to do the same thing as her and just try to sleep sitting up straight. I didn't really know why having even a few inches between me and the window made me feel better, but it did.

A few lights sped by. I couldn't even tell what they were through the rain. Then more of them as we headed into a city. I wasn't even sure which. Baltimore, maybe, or D.C. The intercom muttered something I couldn't make out, and the man behind us started to gather his stuff. He was maybe twenty-one, twenty-two, with dark circles under his eyes and earphones in one ear. He looked at Clarisse for just a little too long. Before I could figure out whether or not to get pissed off on her behalf, he started pulling his stuff down from the overhead compartment.

I slouched farther into my seat, yawning and half-closing my eyes. The train hit a tiny bump. The guy in the aisle stumbled exaggeratedly and practically fell on Clarisse, who shoved him away before I could do much more than sit up straight. He glanced back at her and then made eye contact with me. I glared at him, wishing I was still in the aisle seat and wondering what Clarisse would do if I tried to get up. Maybe I was just tired, but pinning the guy to a wall and putting the fear of god– or gods– into him struck me as very appealing at the moment.

It wasn't until he walked away that I realized Clarisse was giving me a look, one eyebrow raised.

"What?" I muttered, slumping back against the seat with a scowl.

She actually snickered. "This is gonna be kinda funny."

"What the Hades is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," she said airily. "Just… I don't know. Welcome to the real world, I guess."

"Welcome back, you mean," I yawned.

Clarisse rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Go to sleep, we're already in– uh, Baltimore."

I stared at her. "What was that?"

"What was what?"

"What's wrong with Baltimore?"

"Nothing," she said, but I swore her voice was a little higher than usual. The train started to move again.

"What the Hades, Clarisse? Seriously, is something wrong?"

"No?" she said uncertainly.

I stared at her for a few more seconds. "You're weird, you know that?"

"Yup."

"All right then," I said resignedly.

Clarisse still looked vaguely distressed, giving me a wide-eyed look and biting her lip. Except she wasn't looking at me. She was looking behind me. I turned.

"Oh," I said quietly. "Fuck."

We were in a tunnel. My first thought, or at least the first one that wasn't just a string of profanity, was, how did I not see this coming? How did _Chiron_ not see this coming? In what universe was sending me into a tunnel possibly a good idea?

The lights whipped past the window. I watched them, my entire body perfectly still, my heart pounding. I knew it was stupid to be scared. But I was. I mean, I didn't need a real Labyrinth to get trapped in one. I'd proven that. Sanity was fragile, mine more so than most. All it would take was one little slip, and down I'd go. Anything could break my grip.

Like that crack in the wall, dripping water.

Except I couldn't have seen that. We were moving way too fast. But I _did_ see it, so either demigod reflexes were even better than I thought and this whole tunnel was collapsing… or I'd imagined it. I didn't know which was worse. The first one, I guess, since death for everyone was worse than insanity for me.

"Chris?"

I realized that I'd been holding my breath. "Yeah?" I said distractedly.

Clarisse breathed out. I realized a second later that it was probably relief at getting a coherent reply out of me. I also realized that her hand was on my arm. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Fine. I think." I turned away from the window to face her, but found myself just staring out the windows on the other side of the train. A maintenance door whipped by. Some pipes.

… More cracks. A whole section of the wall was spiderwebbed with them, the cement crumbling, water trickling through. Were we even underwater? It could just be pipes leaking. Except it wasn't that either, because the damn cracks weren't _there._

"Chris?" Clarisse said sharply.

"Huh?" I managed.

She leaned in so that she was right in front of my face, blocking my line of sight to the window. "You don't _look _fine. You look like you just saw Kronos. Look, we're just in a train tunnel, all right? Tons of people go through here every day and nothing awful happens to them. It's fine."

"I know," I said defensively. "I'm not scared."

She gave me another look and slid her hand down to my wrist. "Oh really?"

"Um…" I mumbled, realizing that she could feel my pulse. "I guess a little. I mean, can you blame me?"

"A _little?" _she said disbelievingly. "You're a bad liar, hotshot."

"Hotshot? Is that an upgrade from 'punk?'" I asked weakly.

"No," she snapped. "Gods dammit, Chris, I thought you said you were over this."

"I thought I was!" I protested. "I mean, I don't exactly make a point of going underground. How was I supposed to know? And maybe someone should've told me–"

"Maybe we didn't know! Or maybe that's just not something Chiron's used to having to think about! You can't just expect him to–"

"I know! But still, I mean, he's the one who… how did he not realize this? He's got to know I don't want to be here. I really fucking don't, okay?" My voice was getting increasingly hysterical, but I couldn't make myself shut up. "Look, I _know_ it's my fault, but I seriously just–"

Clarisse other hand suddenly grabbed my hair and made me look out the window. Sky. Dark, cloudy, rainy sky, but sky nonetheless.

"Oh," I said. "Ouch. Don't do that."

"You know I didn't mean that, right?" she said. Her voice didn't exactly sound apologetic, but I could tell she was.

I took a few deep breaths, running the hand Clarisse wasn't still gripping through my hair. "Uh, no, I didn't know that. Why'd you say it, then?"

She shrugged, half-smiling. "I've never seen you scared and mad at the same time. I just wanted to piss you off until we were out of the tunnel."

"Oh," I said again. "Uh, okay."

Clarisse smirked. "You realize this still counts as part of my watch, right?"

"Yup," I yawned, snatching the sweatshirt poking out of her duffel bag and arranging it behind my head. I had no idea why she'd even packed it, seeing as it was barely September, but I wasn't complaining. "Thanks, by the way. I really did need that distraction."

"No problem. You're not jumping in the loony bin on my watch," she said grimly.

"Um… thank you?"

Clarisse shrugged. "It's bad business. Like letting the guy who owes you money get killed. You owe me."

I chuckled without opening my eyes. "Nice to know I'm worth so much."

"Yeah."

I waited for her to say something else, most likely something sarcastic about how I had a big head or was only worth anything because I owed her. But she didn't say anything else. This whole trip was just _weird._ But in a good way. A really good way.

I fell asleep faster than I usually did, maybe because of the sound of the train on the tracks. But I was also sure that I wouldn't have nightmares. And it was because Clarisse was still holding my wrist, as ridiculously mushy as it sounded. It was just like the breeze on the beach. It was a feeling that just couldn't be reconciled with the claustrophobia, or in this case loneliness, that made the Labyrinth what it was.

For the millionth time in my life, I thanked the gods that mindreading wasn't a demigod power.

**Oh, shoot me. XD The fluff hippopotamus strikes again. (As opposed to the plot bunny or the rubber chicken of sentimentality, if you were wondering. I'm trying to start a trend here.)**

**Reviews are fantastic as always. **


	46. Dead Is Also Nice

**One last update before NaNo, which I am superridiculously pumped for. Yes, I just invented a new word to express it.**

**Disclaimer: I literally just finished this. It's October 31st. NaNo starts tomorrow, and it's my bedtime. Needless to say, this is not proofread. At **_**all.**_** Please ignore any typos/melodrama/weird metaphors/general oddness. Thank you.**

We emerged from the train station in a parking lot, practically underneath a raised highway.

"That it?" Clarisse asked.

I shrugged. "I've never been here before. Could be. It looks big enough, I guess."

Clarisse rolled her eyes and dug a map out of her duffle bag. She unfolded it, biting her lip. "Huh."

"Was that a good 'huh' or a bad 'huh?'" I asked, swinging my sword-slash-lacrosse-stick nervously and wondering if this parking lot was always so empty, even at four in the morning.

Instead of answering, Clarisse shoved the map in my face. I stared at it for a moment. "Huh."

Well, we had found highway 95. The thing was, 95 went pretty much all the way through Richmond. And while Richmond wasn't exactly New York City, it was still significantly bigger than we could ever hope to search.

"Well, it's better than nothing," Clarisse said, folding up the map and stuffing it back into her bag. "Let's go."

"Which way?"

We glanced right. Even in the dark, we could see the shiny high-rise maybe a quarter of a mile away, with more behind it. To our left, there was a parking lot, with another behind it, then a sketchy-looking building, then another parking lot.

"That way," I said, pointing left.

"Yup."

We set off at an easy lope, listening to the rumble of cars almost directly overhead. The highway wasn't busy, but it wasn't deserted either. Maybe one car went by every few seconds, the sound of its engine vibrating down through the huge grey cement pillars. We skirted the edge of the building, but it seemed deserted. Across a road, then under some train tracks… some kind of a workyard that looked more like a disaster area… a wide-open area of dirt… a one-lane road that was probably an exit… then we shoved our way through some trees and found ourselves staring at the James River.

"Huh," we said simultaneously. The highway carried on across it, its round pillars made of smooth cement that we couldn't possibly climb.

"Other way?" Clarisse suggested.

I shook my head. "I don't think so."

"Well, what do you want to do, then?"

"I'm not sure, but this is never going to work," I said, leaning against a tree trunk. "I mean, the kid said _near_ 95, not underneath it. We could have passed it already."

"So what, we go back to New York?" she protested. "We have to think of something."

"Your call, Demigoddess of War and Strategy," I yawned, closing my eyes.

"That's Athena."

"That's not what you told me."

"Monsters."

I opened one eye. "What?"

"We need to find a monster. We can follow them back." She paced around the tree I was leaning against. "Dunno why we haven't run into any already, but they've got to be around here somewhere if they got whatsherface."

"Lexi."

"Whatever. But if they're not attacking us already, how the Hades do we find them?"

I jerked my head in the direction of the river. "We could ask him."

Clarisse frowned. "The spirit of the James? Why would he know?"

"No idea."

"And why would he help us?"

"Not a clue."

Clarisse considered it. "Sounds good. Let's try it."

The trees grew right out over the water. We scrambled as far out into the branches as we could, the leaves and darkness concealing us from the highway. I had the nasty idea that any monster in the river could leap up and eat us, branches and all, but I elected to keep that thought to myself. No need to give Clarisse more ammo to make fun of me with.

Clarisse stared at the river's dark surface for a few seconds, brow furrowed. Then she reached down and jabbed it.

"What the– Clarisse!" I hissed. "Don't _poke_ it!"

"How else am I supposed to get its attention?"

"It… er, he… probably knows we're here. I know we're not Big Three kids or anything, but I think we're powerful enough between the two of this to attract just about anything's attention."

Clarisse glared, but I got the feeling she was trying not to smile. "Yeah, maybe. But why's he ignoring us?"

"Who's ignoring you?"

I almost fell out of the tree. There was a face underneath us, barely visible, made of the highway's light reflecting off the surface of the water.

"Er… no one, now," I said hesitantly, wishing I knew what kind of temperament I was dealing with here.

"So I was the one ignoring you before," the face mused in its gurgling voice. "But now I'm not."

"I suppose?" I said.

"Handy. Very handy indeed." The river spirit nodded, which was quite a trick considering it was only a face. "So. Did you want something?"

Clarisse and I glanced at each other. This was just _weird. _I mean, since when did mythological beings not try to kill us, or at least not act as disagreeable as they possibly could?

And why did its voice have that weird echo to it?

"Kronos' camp," I said, deciding to ignore the echo for the moment. "Do you know where it is?"

"I most certainly do!" the river spirit grinned.

_Two…_

I shook my head, wondering what I was hearing. It sounded exactly like the spirit's gurgling voice. Maybe it _was_ just an echo.

"Just upriver," it said cheerfully. "Belle Isle's what you want. About a mile upriver, maybe less, 301 crosses me. There's a pedestrian bridge right underneath."

_Yes, there…_

That time Clarisse's eyes narrowed, like she had heard it too. It was coming from downriver, right where the highway crossed it. Like the spirit was talking to someone or something else at the same time. Something right under the bridge.

If it was a troll, someone was going down.

"Back to land!" I hissed, tumbling down the sloped trunk. To my surprise, Clarisse actually listened to me. Probably because she could hear something big coming toward us. Or maybe several somethings.

"Here or the dirt?" she asked hurriedly. I realized what she meant immediately. We'd crossed an open dirt field on our way here. We could make it back in time, but…

"Here," I said. "They sound big, and I think we're outnumbered. Trees are worse for them than us."

"We could run."

I raised my eyebrows at the fact that she was even suggesting it. "You ever tried to outrun a giant?"

"No. You?"

"Yep."

"Didn't go well, I assume?"

"It's how I got captured the first time," I said distractedly, struggling to see what was coming at us. Not like I really needed to, since I could hear them just fine. I groaned at the sight of glowing red eyes, ten feet off the ground. Laistrygonians. My old pals. Great.

"Distract them and I'll pick them off," I whispered. Before Clarisse could object, I shot toward the giants. I knew they wouldn't see me. It was more than luck. I knew exactly where their attention was, where the shadows were, where to step to be absolutely silent… I could make a killing as a magician, I mused.

I backed against the trunk of a tree, closing my eyes. I had no clue why. Maybe some kind of a crazy you-can't-see-me-if-I-can't-see-you thing. For whatever reason, it felt right, although it didn't stop me from flinching when one of the giants' legs thudded down a foot away from me.

A low growl rang out. Then came a pained yelp and a delighted cackle that could only be Clarisse. I spun and rammed my sword into the back of the giant who'd just passed me. He crumbled to dust silently. Which was a dead giveaway that I was there, because as a general rule, giants didn't do much of anything silently. Two of them turned on me, growling, while another blundered toward Clarisse.

I realized with dismay that, deliberately or not, the Laistrygonians were herding me toward the river. The water would be a far bigger handicap to me than them, since they were so much bigger than me, and they presumably had the river spirit on their side as well. Great.

Instead of backing into the water, I scrambled up the diagonal trunk of one of the trees. Sure, I'd cornered myself, but it wasn't like I couldn't just jump off and be no worse off than I would've been otherwise.

"Kronos will have you prisoner, demigod," one of them snarled, clumsily attempting to climb the tree. "Or dead. Dead is also nice." He couldn't even get off the ground. His pal swung his club at the bark, without much effect.

I found my balance on the trunk, hefting my sword and getting ready to spring. I knew Clarisse would come as soon as she'd taken down the one after her. Which had just happened, judging by the pained roar coming from somewhere off to my left. When Clarisse engaged one of them, I'd take out the last one.

Movement caught the corner of my eye. I glanced upstream. And cursed. The river spirit must have called in reinforcements from somewhere. At least fifteen Laistrygonians were pounding through the shallows, waving clubs.

I breathed out hard through my nose. "Oh boy."

One of the Laistrygonians on the shore suddenly disintegrated. I tensed to jump on the other one.

And the tree snapped. The trunk, at least a foot in diameter, split clean through. The tree plummeted into the river, taking me with it.

Weird, I thought in midair. That was _really_ weird. That tree took a hit from a Laistrygonian and didn't even have a mark on it. No way my weight was enough to snap it. So how the Hades did that happen?

Then the treetop hit the water with a crash. I smacked into one of the branches of the fork I'd been balanced on, slid off it, and hit the water. The branches that had struck first began to snap. Too stunned to move, I tensed, waiting for the whole tree to fall on me.

Fortunately, it didn't. Only part of it.

I found myself lying on my stomach on the big rocks that made up the shallows, which were fortunately pretty smooth. That would have been fine, if not for the fact that the trunk had fallen across my back.

"Chris?" Clarisse said breathlessly from somewhere onshore. The Laistrygonians' yells grew louder.

"Get out of here."

"_What?_" she squawked.

"I'm stuck," I hissed through gritted teeth, wondering if my ribs were broken again. I noticed my sword lying half-in, half-out of the water. She could get it without being seen. "Grab my sword."

"Why?" But she did it.

"So I don't have to hunt it down later. Follow them to the camp. Now scram before they see you."

I could hear the leaves rustling as Clarisse drew back from the water's edge, although I knew she'd still be watching. I sighed, watching as the giants drew closer. I was lucky I hadn't been knocked out. My back was underwater, but the water was shallow enough that I could keep my shoulders above the surface.

Funny thing was, I wasn't that scared. If there was anyone I trusted to get my out of there, it was Clarisse. And I didn't even have to beat myself up about expecting her to do it. If it was just me, I'd have told her to just go back to camp, even though she'd never listen to me. But we had to save Lexi anyway. This was as good a way as any to find their camp. And as a bonus, the original five giants were dead. They wouldn't even know Clarisse was out there if the river spirit didn't think to mention it, and I figured its attention had probably been on the approaching giants for the last few minutes.

And suddenly the approaching giants were actually right in front of me, and I wasn't so confident anymore.

Facing a bunch of monsters was one thing. Facing them unarmed was another. And doing it while pinned was yet another. It occurred to me just how easy it would be for them to drown me. A foot on the back of my neck for two minutes or so, and that was the end of Chris Rodriguez. No way Clarisse could save me, and I was totally helpless. I just had to pray they wouldn't do it. For the second time, I'd be completely at a monster's mercy.

Fuck my life.

I gulped as the giants surrounded me. They seemed kind of disappointed, like they'd been eager for a fight. If they couldn't have that, they'd want a death even more than usual.

_Please don't drown me please don't drown me please please please don't drown me…_

One of the giants bent down so that his red eyes were right in my face. "Demigod?" he snarled.

I nodded, trying to convince myself that I was only trembling because the water was so cold. I wondered if every demigod was this pathetic and just concealed it, or if that was just me.

His eyes narrowed suspiciously. "No weapon?"

"I… I fight with a knife," I lied. "I dropped it."

"A knife," he repeated dubiously. I bit my lip. Yeah, I was pretty big to be fighting with a knife, but if I said I used a scimitar they'd never believe it had just been washed away or something. And if they realized there was someone else here…

"I'm a son of Hermes," I said, figuring that could sort of justify it.

The giant's lips curved into a cruel smile. "And you can't escape from a tree, huh? Not a very good one, then, are you?"

I scowled. Not being able to get an entire damn tree off my back had nothing to do with being a bad escape artist. Still, it couldn't be a bad thing for him to think that. I wasn't the best, but I'd picked up a few tricks in the Hermes cabin. Keeping me prisoner would be easier said than done.

"Guess not," I said quietly.

The Laistrygonian tapped his club against the tree trunk, hard enough to make me flinch. If my ribs weren't broken, I was coming out of this with one heck of a bruise.

"Camp Half-Blood?" he asked. "If not, I have to kill you. If yes… I might kill you anyway."

"Yes?" I said hesitantly, wondering what was going through Clarisse's head right now.

"Counselor?"

"No," I said quietly, cursing mentally. Being a counselor, I assumed, made me more valuable. They'd assume I knew more strategies and that camp would sacrifice more to get me back. Which was probably true. If Percy or Annabeth had been taken, or Clarisse for that matter, I had no doubt there'd be an entire battalion of demigods knocking on Kronos' door right about now. For me, not so much. Actually, they probably wouldn't send anybody, since I'd been on a rescue mission in the first place. They'd just assume this base was too strong and decide to cut their losses where they already were.

Clarisse, I thought, I hope you know what you're doing.

"No," the giant repeated. He reached toward me. I closed my eyes and shrank back as much as I could.

_Please don't drown me please don't drown me please don't drown me…_

I wasn't sure why the idea of drowning got to me so much, but it did. I mean, it wasn't like I was psyched at the idea of getting clubbed or whatever, but my fear of that was just a straightforward, everyday death-and-pain-are-bad-things type of fear. The idea of drowning flat-out terrified me. I could imagine it way too well. Maybe I'd just come too close a few times too many.

Instead of shoving my head under the water, the giant grabbed my arm. He jerked his head at the rest of his crew, then at the tree. They lunged forward, grabbing the tree along its length and lifting it enough that the first one could drag me out from under it.

I never even had time to stand up straight. A second giant's club swung at my head and connected with a crack that I heard more than I felt. The first one caught me an inch from the water. I swore I heard a gasp from the trees, but I could have just imagined it.

**I finally started TLH. Leo is the best thing ever, and not just because he makes Chris seem a lot less token-y. Jason is meh, and Piper is annoying as hell. Honestly, kaleidoscope eyes? Am I the only one who facepalmed when I saw that?**

**Farewell until December. Unless I get way ahead on my NaNo, which is unlikely, to say the least. But I'm super-pumped for the next chapter. It's gonna be… er… you'll see. ;)**

**So what do you guys think is the ultimate Chrisse theme song? The best one I've heard so far is Love the Way You Lie pt II, which StarlitReader has written a fantastic songfic for, if you haven't read that already. I need more writing music, so give me suggestions!**


	47. Get Thee to a Nunnery

**Hello. I'm back. Obviously. FYI, this chapter's one of the sketchier ones, due to slightly dirtier jokes than usual. So read on at your own peril, although honestly, anyone who hasn't seen something like this coming hasn't been paying attention at all. Make of that what you will.**

Ouch.

Ow. Fuck. Ow.

The first thing I noticed was the fact that my head hurt like Hades. Next came the sound of water splashing, like huge feet were stomping through it. Then the murmur of deep voices, and finally the fact that something big was carrying me in its arms. Which was a little weird, but probably more dignified than being thrown over its shoulder.

Laistrygonian, I remembered. Well, no. _Laistrygonians,_ plural. One would've been fine. Most of the time. Maybe not now, since opening my eyes seemed significantly beyond my immediate athletic ability. But I knew I had to do something now, even though I couldn't quite remember why. There was a buzzing in my head that wouldn't go away, like the space between the neurons in my brain was filled with interference. I could hear and feel my heartbeat. It hurt. It was like trying to sleep with a fever.

I had to get away because this might be my best chance, if not my only one. That was it. They were taking me to one of Kronos' bases. And if I couldn't get away on my own, Clarisse would have to come rescue me, and that would be downright embarrassing. Silena would never let me live it down, not to mention Kieran.

So. Escaping.

Huh.

My sword was… where? I could tell it wasn't on my belt. Did they have it? Did I drop it? No, Clarisse had it, I finally remembered. I'd told her to grab it before they got me.

I bit back a groan when the Laistrygonian carrying me tripped or something, jarring me hard enough to send a bolt of pain through my head. I was still dizzy, but my thoughts were getting clearer. One thing I knew was that I had to play dead. Honestly, I was lucky I wasn't dead for real. A blow that hard could easily have been fatal. Maybe demigods were less prone to head injuries or something. It seemed like a characteristic natural selection would favor.

"Where do I bring him?" the giant carrying me rumbled.

"With the other one," another said.

Well, that was convenient. At least if I somehow managed to get myself out of this, I wouldn't have to track Lexi down.

The Laistrygonians continued through the woods. Now and then, I heard voices. Some of them were human, but there were definitely hellhounds, _dracaenae,_ and other monsters. Even with my eyes closed, I could see the flickering of firelight and smell wood burning. This base was clearly a pretty serious one.

By the time the giant stopped walking, I was reasonably sure I was thinking straight, although I had no doubt I'd collapse in a heap if I tried to run. Anyway, I was unarmed. Clearly they preferred me alive to dead, but I suspected that dead still beat escaped.

I risked opening my eyes for a split second, mostly because I couldn't stand not knowing what the Hades was going on. All I saw was leaves and clouds, glowing yellow with the city's light pollution. We were definitely somewhere in the middle of the woods, probably close to the center of the isle. Chiron had given us a two-minute lecture on Richmond right before we left, but I couldn't for the life of me remember what Belle Isle's significance was.

At least, not until the sound of the giants' footsteps turned from the muffled thud of huge feet on soft dirt to a dead scraping noise, like they were walking on rock now. The dull light reflected off the clouds was suddenly gone. They'd taken me inside a building. Why the Hades was there a building in the middle of a wooded isle? Wasn't it a nature reserve or something?

Yes. Sort of, I finally remembered. That was what Chiron had told us. But it was also a historical site. Something about the civil war. There were old buildings all over the place. It had been a Confederate base, I was pretty sure he said, but it was specifically used as… what?

The giant dropped me. Maybe if I'd had some warning I could've kept up the act, but pretending to be unconscious while abruptly finding myself falling five feet onto a stone floor was easier said than done. I instinctively twisted in midair and caught myself with my nose an inch from the ground.

Well. So much for that.

I almost bolted. I could've been out the door before they even figured out what was going on. But it seemed pretty likely they'd have guessed I was there to get Lexi back. If I got away, they'd guard her ten times as carefully, or decide it wasn't worth it and just kill her. At least if I stayed I had a chance to get away and take her with me. Plus there was always Clarisse, whom they hopefully didn't know about.

And maybe I was kidding myself, anyway, I thought as my arms were twisted behind my back roughly. I was still dizzy. No way I'd have made it through gods knew how many monsters to get off the island. And then what? How would I find Clarisse? I'd just be alone and unarmed in the middle of Richmond. Which, from what Chiron had said, wasn't really a good situation. Apparently it wasn't just the supernatural monsters you had to look out for. He'd tried to get Clarisse and I to take non-celestial-bronze knives, but we'd refused on the grounds that we were going to Richmond, not Gotham, and we had no interest in killing mortals. Now that I was as edgy as I was, I sort of regretted it. I would be very pissed off if we made it through Kronos' army and then got shot by a mugger or something.

Still, it was monsters of the supernatural persuasion that I had to worry about at the moment. I didn't even try to fight back, but I gave the nearest giant the best death glare I could manage as I was dragged a few feet closer to the wall. My hands touched something cold and smooth. Some kind of metal pipe or bar. The giant holding me let go with one hand, but his other hand was still big enough to wrap around both my wrists with a grip I'd be hard-pressed to break. He leaned down a little more. A second later, something that felt ominously like rope brushed against my arm.

Without really thinking about it, I kicked the Laistrygonian in the chest with both feet. Probably not advisable. But I really didn't like the idea of getting tied to a pipe or whatever. For whatever crazy reason, I'd been expecting to get locked in a room or something like that. That, I could deal with. Hades, it had happened before. I could at least sort of defend myself in that kind of situation. But with this, someone could just walk up and slit my throat and it wasn't like I could do anything about it. Well, kick them, maybe.

The giant stumbled back, but didn't lose his grip on me, so he just ended up falling against the wall and twisting my arms in the process. He growled angrily. I growled right back and threw another kick at him. This time, he saw it coming and knocked my legs to the ground with his free arm. He apparently decided to fight on my level and kicked me in the ribs, except it wasn't really fighting on my level, since getting kicked by a giant was a bit like running full tilt through a door. A closed door. Which was made of adamantium or something.

I gasped as the air was knocked out of me. The giant put a foot down on my ankles, not hard enough to do much more damage than maybe a nasty bruise, but enough to keep me from kicking him again. The rope had tightened around my wrists before I could even begin to get my breath back, or enough presence of mind to use the trick the Stolls had showed me, where you hold your hands slightly apart while they're being tied so it's easier to slip the ropes off.

The giants strode off without further ado. I discovered almost immediately that I couldn't even sit up, since the Laistrygonian had tied my arms parallel to the pipe. If it even was a pipe. There was a little light coming in through the door, but the room was still dark enough to make me more nervous than I already was.

A prison island. That's what Chiron said it was, I remembered. The Confederates kept Union prisoners of war here. Go fucking figure. This building might've been a prison. Some poor bastard could've rotted to death a century and a half ago exactly where I was lying.

I spent a few minutes fighting the ropes unsuccessfully, putting some serious thought into panicking and wishing I didn't have quite so active an imagination. Every time I looked up, I saw shadows moving in the pitch darkness, which made pretty much the opposite of sense. But who the Hades knew what else could be in here with me? Was I a prisoner of war, or was I monster food? Maybe they'd thrown Lexi to a drakon as soon as they got her.

I kept struggling, cursing myself for being so scared. Of course there was nothing else in here. The door was open, for the gods' sakes. The Laistrygonians had walked right in and nothing had ripped their heads off. But I could still feel my heartbeat pounding against the stone floor, way faster than it should've been just from the exertion of wrestling with the ropes. I hated, _hated_ feeling this helpless. It was like losing my mind all over again. What happened to me wasn't really in my hands anymore, and this time I knew it, too. Either Clarisse would save me or I'd eventually get killed.

I braced my feet against the wall and twisted against the ropes with all my strength, snarling a long string of very nasty words when absolutely nothing happened.

There was a noise from farther back in the room. A gasp, I was pretty sure. I froze, listening for anything else.

"Hello?" a small voice said after a few seconds of tense silence.

"Lexi?"

"Yeah. Who are you? Are you from camp?" She didn't sound much older than thirteen or fourteen.

"Chris Rodriguez. I'm from camp, yeah. You okay?"

"Well, sort of," she said, her voice turning a bit testy. "All things considered. Are you supposed to be saving me?"

"Um…"

"Oh, gods," she groaned. "I'm gonna die."

"Look, it wasn't my fault, all right?" I snapped. "A godsdamned tree fell on me. How the Hades was I supposed to see that one coming?"

"Wait, what'd you say your name was? Aren't you the one who–"

"Labyrinth. Yes," I said through gritted teeth.

"Didn't you go insane?"

"Yeah, but I got better."

"Well, I hope so," she sniffed. "So what do we do?"

"Depends. I assume you're as stuck as I am?"

"If that's a nice way of asking whether I'm handcuffed to a pipe, yes, I am."

"Though so– Wait, handcuffed?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"You got a bobby pin? Or a paper clip or something like that?" I said quietly, hoping there weren't any monsters standing right outside the door.

"Whoa, that actually works in real life?"

"Sometimes. Depends on the handcuffs, I think."

There was a beat of silence.

"How in Hades do you know that?" she giggled.

"I'm a son of Hermes, all right?" I grumbled, suddenly grateful that it was too dark for her to know I was blushing and hoping this whole situation wouldn't exceed my awkwardness threshold. I doubted I'd ever get used to dealing with daughters of Aphrodite. Particularly thirteen-year-old ones. How was it that she was the one making me uncomfortable, but I still felt like the creeper here?

"Ooh, is that, like, a thing with them?"

"Wha– No! Just… Do you have a bobby pin or not?"

"Yes."

"Thank gods. If you can reach it, grab it, straighten it out, and pull the little rubber thingamajig off the end," I said, hoping none of what I'd just said could be misinterpreted.

"Okay. Now what?"

"Bend the end and put it in the lock, then angle it the other way, so it's shaped like an S. Then push it down against the outside so the end goes up. That's where the latch it. In theory." I had to repeat it and phrase it about eight different ways, but finally I heard a tiny _click._

"Got it," she said happily.

"Great. Help me, then. We should get out before morning. It's probably almost dawn."

I almost gagged when she leaned over me. She wore way too much perfume. And I was pretty sure she was making a bit more physical contact with me than was absolutely necessary, which made me feel extremely weird since she was so much younger, but I figured I should probably let her untie me before I said or did anything to antagonize her.

"Ow!" she cried.

"What?"

"I broke a nail."

I rolled my eyes, but decided not to even dignify that one with a response. I waited. And waited. And waited, getting edgier every second. If I could talk her through picking a lock and she couldn't even untie a knot, I was going to be extremely unhappy.

"Your accent is cool," she said conversationally. "Where are you from?"

"Shut the Hades up and get that rope off me." So much for not antagonizing her.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm working on it."

Finally, the ropes slackened the tiniest bit. I had wriggled out of them and was halfway across the room before Lexi even seemed to realize she'd gotten the knot undone.

"Oh. Got it," she said unnecessarily.

"Yeah, great. Wait here a sec. I'll figure out what to do next." I crept to the door, making sure not to let enough light fall on me that anything outside could see me. "Ah, dammit."

"What?"

"There are fires pretty much everywhere. The nearest one's still a decent distance away, but I think we're in the middle of the camp."

"I could've told you that."

"You should have told me that. And don't you dare say I didn't ask."

I couldn't see her, but I could tell by her voice that she was scowling. "Hmph. So what do we do?"

"We sneak away while it's dark, I guess. Just follow me, step where I step, and for the love of the gods be quiet."

**The end for now, because I want to publish this tonight and I still have to proofread, but I'll try to update tomorrow. As ever, reviews are very much appreciated. Particularly because I obviously haven't updated for a month and I'm afraid everyone reading this will have given up on it. So if you're still here, please let me know. ;)**


	48. I Forgot My Dagger on the Bus

**No updates for a month and then two in a row! What? Me? Ridiculously inconsistent? Nah. But don't expect updates this fast from now on, because I've, erm, sort of been neglecting my other fics in favor of this one. Whoops-a-daisy.**

I found myself reminded of all the heroes who had ever tried to tackle the Garden of the Hesperides. It should've been easy. It could be, really. But make one wrong move, and you had a big problem on your hands.

I was more worried about Lexi than myself. If there was one thing I was good at, it was moving around at night without making any noise. Which was just about the opposite of how daughters of Aphrodite seemed to operate. Still, she'd done pretty well so far. There were a few times where she almost gave me a heart attack, little things like tripping over a root or whatever, but she always caught herself without making too much noise.

I repressed the urge to steal a weapon from a sleeping monster or demigod. As long as we didn't draw attention to ourselves, we'd be fine. There were plenty of demigods around. The only ones who'd even know we shouldn't be here were the Laistrygonians who'd captured me, and I supposed whoever knew Lexi was here.

Here and there, silhouettes paced around fires. Some of the figures were human– most of them unnervingly small– but some were huge and hunched, toting massive weapons. Thankfully, for me at least, the fires had only been built in small clearings. Most of the base seemed to consist of thick woods. It was difficult even for me to move totally silently, and impossible for Lexi, but it didn't really matter. Plenty of things were rustling around the leaves and running up the paths.

I paused at the sound of a scuffle maybe a hundred feet in front of us. There was a muffled curse and the sound of metal on metal, then silence. Clarisse. I had no doubt about it. Something had found her and fought her. It sounded like she'd won, but I wasn't the only one who heard it. At least five figures from five different directions started closing in.

"Lexi," I said hurriedly under my breath. "You live around here, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"There's a footbridge off the isle, isn't there? You know where it is?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Get out of here while they're distracted. We'll meet you on the other side."

"Wait, who's 'we?' And you don't even know where the bridge is."

"I'll find it. Scram, all right?"

She gave one of those all-too-familiar Aphrodite girl huffs. "Fine."

I didn't hear her leave, and I was just about to tell her in less polite terms to fuck off when I realized that she'd done it without me hearing her. I raised an eyebrow, impressed. Maybe she'd been a Hermes kid in another life. Maybe literally, come to think of it. Hopefully a girl. I shuddered at the thought of dying, choosing rebirth, and coming back as an Aphrodite chick. Not that I really wanted to be an Aphrodite boy, either, but still.

Another angry growl rang through the woods, snapping me out of it. Helping Clarisse. Right. While unarmed. Great. Let's do this.

I darted toward the noise, hoping any monster that saw me would assume I was on their side. I realized just in time that Clarisse would think exactly the same thing. She had taken a stand with her back to a huge tree, my sword leaning against the trunk next to her. I ducked around a giant and reached her just ahead of them. She swung her spear at me reflexively, but I ducked it and snatched my sword.

"What the Hades are you doing here?" she asked, almost indignantly. "They captured you!"

"I have mad skills," I shrugged, ripping a spear from the hands of a tiny demigod and chucking it in a Laistrygonian's general direction. "What kind of a rescue do you call this, anyway?"

"What do you call yours? Didn't you get Lexi?" She clubbed a _dracaena_ without missing a beat.

"Sure did. She's fine. We just have to get out of here ourselves." I tilted my head, calculating which way we needed to go. If the building had faced that way, and the giants came from that way, that meant the shore was somewhere over there, with the bridge… "There."

To my surprise, Clarisse didn't question me at all. She threw herself in the direction I'd indicated, obliterating a whole pack of monsters with a furious battle cry. Apparently stealth was no longer on the table. I shrugged and followed her lead.

And tripped. Over a root, for the second time since I'd come back from the maze. Of course I'd do it during a time when it could get me killed. Again. First the scorpion, now on this mission. Almost like it was deliberate. And this mission that shouldn't have even been that dangerous for me, except the tree fell. The mission that Katie Gardner, daughter of Demeter, had suggested I go on.

Huh.

I twisted out of the way as a giant's spear fell right where my throat had been, but the root had somehow tangled itself around my ankle, which seemed a bit unlikely as a natural phenomenon. Clarisse whipped around and rammed her spear into the Laistrygonian's heart. I hacked at the root, ducking a blade and springing up just in time to get knocked back down by a mace slamming into the back of my shoulder. Clarisse dragged me upright with strength she had no right to possess. She took off, pulling me out of the path of yet another sword, which skimmed my lower back instead of skewering it.

As soon as I got my balance back, she let go of me, presumably realizing that I was faster than her even if I was hurt more. We sprinted headlong through the woods, leaping huge boulders and the occasional campfire. The monsters and demigods chasing us started to fall behind.

"So where's Lexi?" Clarisse asked, a little out of breath.

"Other side of the bridge, hopefully."

"No she's not. They're guarding both sides of it."

I blinked, realizing I should have known they would be. "Oh."

"How much of a head start does she have?"

"Not that much. I can catch her. Head that way," I said, pointing slightly to the left of the direction we'd been going. "You'll come out on the riverbank. Wait there and we'll meet you."

Clarisse clearly didn't like the idea of splitting up again, but must have realized we didn't exactly have a choice. "Fine," she muttered. "But if you get caught, things are gonna get ugly, punk."

"Same to you." I took off without waiting for her reply.

It was sort of cool to have an excuse to run as fast as I possibly could. Running like Hades wasn't usually a particularly heroic skill, but now and then it came in handy.

Before long, I heard what sounded like a relatively small figure running through the woods ahead of me. I didn't say anything until I got close enough to be sure it was her, since I wasn't particularly keen on attracting the attention of yet another demigod. But it was Lexi sure enough, North Face jacket, skinny jeans, furry boots and all. I found myself grudgingly impressed again, this time that she could cover that much ground that fast in boots. Then again, since Silena could run in heels, I supposed I shouldn't have been that surprised.

"Lexi!" I hissed.

She jumped a mile, spinning toward me. "Who's there?"

"Me. Change of plans. We're going this way."

"I thought you said to cross the bridge!"

"I did, but it turns out it's guarded."

"How'd you know?"

"Clarisse told me."

"Who, La Rue? What the Hades is she doing here?"

"Just follow me, all right?" I snapped.

Even in the dark, I could see her roll her eyes. "Fine."

Clarisse was pacing along the riverbank when we found her again, stabbing her spear at the ground irritably. She fell into a fighting crouch as soon as she heard us– well, Lexi– coming.

"Whoa, truce," I said, holding up my hands as I walked out of the woods. "If they're guarding the bridge, how'd you get over here?"

"I swam," Clarisse said irritably, looking Lexi over. She didn't seem terribly impressed. I frowned, finally noticing that Clarisse was indeed soaking wet and wondering how the Hades I'd missed that before. Sure, I'd been fighting for my life, but still.

"What?" Lexi protested, obviously horrified. "I can _not_ get these boots wet! And my makeup will run!"

"Sorry, princess." Clarisse shot me an unhappy look, like, _can we just leave her here?_

"The river spirit didn't drown you or something?" I asked.

"Nope. Think he forgot about us already. He seemed a little dippy. It's not that deep, anyway."

"Great." I pulled my shoes off, sheathed my sword, and stuck a foot in the river, figuring I might as well get this over with. "Gods, that's cold!"

Clarisse gave me a look.

"I'm just saying," I said defensively.

She snorted. "Sure, punk. Off you go. You too, princess."

Lexi followed my lead and flopped on the bank, yanking her boots off. "So are you two, like, a thing?"

There was a beat of awkward silence while Clarisse and I both waited for the other to reply.

"Oh," Lexi said knowingly, her face splitting into a Cheshire cat grin. "I see exactly what's going on here."

"No you don't," Clarisse growled. She turned on me, her face bright red. "You. Across the river. Now."

I considered arguing, but realized I didn't really want to be here anymore and started across the river without protest. It really was cold, but not bad enough to drown me or anything, like the water in the Labyrinth.

I froze, glancing down at the river suspiciously. It barely reached my waist, but I wasn't even halfway across yet, and I was pretty sure my feet were sinking into the mud.

Not thinking about that. No way in Hades I was thinking about that.

Thankfully, the water never rose above my shoulders. I walked all the way across, distracting myself from remembering the Labyrinth by wondering instead exactly how polluted this water was. It wasn't exactly a cheerful thought, but it wasn't nearly as immediately terrifying.

I paused in the shallows, waiting for Clarisse and Lexi to catch up. Lexi was still smiling. Clarisse looked like she might burn something down.

"Oh, come on," Lexi said. "You don't even–"

"No. Shut up."

"So have you–"

"I said shut up!"

Lexi rolled her eyes, turned to me, and gave me a ridiculously obvious wink.

"Would you stop that!" Clarisse yelled.

"Of course not," she pouted. "That's like me asking you to stop getting in fights. It would be totally against the Aphrodite rules for me to just ignore the fact that you two _obviously_ like each other!"

Clarisse's palm smacked into her forehead with enough force to make me wince.

"I mean, come _on,_" Lexi ranted on. "I've been around you two for, like, five minutes and I can see it. Chris, you knew that was her in the woods, like, instantly. And you were totally staring at her before–"

"Was not," I protested, cringing under Clarisse's sudden glare.

"Were you really?" she asked, her expression unreadable.

"I… um…"

Now, why did I think I saw the ghost of a smile a split second before she punched me?

The hit wasn't nearly as hard as the one she'd given me in the arena that one time, but it was still enough to send me crashing into the river. Lexi yelped, sympathetically, I guess.

"Gods dammit!" I protested, struggling to my feet and spitting water. "I was carrying my shoes!"

"Oh, I'm _so_ sorry, punk."

"Are you even capable of non-sarcastic apologies?"

"Was that a rhetorical question?"

"Was _that_ a rhetorical question?"

"… Wait, what?" Clarisse said, scratching her head.

Lexi glanced from one of us to the other, tennis-match style. "So is this how you two are all the time?"

"Pretty much, yeah," I said wearily, shaking water from my hair.

"I see." She nodded thoughtfully. "It kind of works for you, though. Even the punching. Really well, actually. Although I guess that would make sense, since…"

She trailed off when she caught my look.

Clarisse looked confused. "Huh?"

"Nothing," I said firmly, shooting Lexi another death glare. That was _not_ a rumor I needed going around.

Lexi giggled. "Well, actually–"

"For the love of Hades!" I cut her off. "Would you _shut up?"_

"Yeah, I'd be cool with that, too," Clarisse agreed, clearly feeling a little left out. "Chris, are you blushing?"

"No!" I said indignantly.

Clarisse rolled her eyes, picked her duffel bag up from where she must have left if before crossing, and started down the bank, leaving me to get harassed by Lexi.

"So you two aren't going out?" she whispered, just quietly enough that I doubted Clarisse could hear.

"No."

"Why not?"

"We just aren't."

"Do you want to be?"

"Would you shut up?"

"Have you kissed?"

I gritted my teeth and stared straight ahead.

"Oh my gods, you totally have!" she squealed.

Clarisse turned. "You've totally what?"

"You two! You _mmph!_" she yelped, cut off by the hand I'd clapped over her mouth.

"Nothing," I said serenely.

The conversation continued in roughly the same fashion all the way to Lexi's house. It was a bit of a walk, maybe five miles, and she made me positively miserable the whole way. She assured us that she wouldn't just get kidnapped all over again as soon as we left. Apparently she'd been on a back-to-school trip to the isle when they got her in the first place, and she forgot her dagger on the bus, which was just about the dumbest thing I'd ever heard, but I was so glad to be rid of her that I let it go.

Lexi stopped us in front of a nice house on Monument Avenue. The sun was just starting to come up, and some cars and overenthusiastic joggers were already out on the street.

"Thanks, guys," she said, bouncing up the steps to her house and digging a key from her pocket. "I knew my dad would call camp when I didn't come home, but I didn't know if they'd send anyone."

"Of course they would," Clarisse said, probably realizing she shouldn't let me reply to that. "Chiron would never leave you at an enemy base."

Unless you didn't have a godly parent lobbying for you, or Olympus just plain didn't like you, I added mentally. Then he might.

Lexi grinned, shot me another huge wink, and jerked her head at Clarisse in possibly the least subtle hint in the world before going inside.

"What the Hades was she winking at you for?" Clarisse asked as soon as the door was closed. She sounded a little pissed off.

"Nothing. She just wants me to ask you out."

It took a few seconds for me to register what I'd just said. Clarisse and I froze simultaneously, staring at each other like mice at hawks. Well, I was the mouse and she was the hawk.

Suddenly, Clarisse laughed. "Of course she does."

"Yeah," I said uncertainly.

We started walking again. I bit my lip, tempted to do something completely insane. I'd probably get killed. There was no way it would work. But the thought of _not_ doing it was about as appealing as getting reincarnated as a daughter of Aphrodite. Anyway, wasn't doing stupid, crazy, reckless things exactly what I was best at?

"So, um," I said, looking anywhere but her. "Will you go out with me?"

Her steps didn't miss a beat. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her eyes narrow, but that was it. A second passed. Another second. Her knuckles tightened around her spear. She looked up at me, and I actually returned the eye contact, figuring that since she was clearly about to kill me I may as well look my death in the eye.

"All right."

That time I stopped cold.

"Wait, what?"

Clarisse raised an eyebrow. "All right. Yes. _Sí._ I will go out with you. That's what you were asking, isn't it?"

"Um… yeah?" I squeaked.

She sighed. "Don't get all awkward on me and make me regret this."

"'Course not. Just took a minute to register, that's all."

That earned me another weird look. "Haven't we been through this before? Why do you ask me that kind of stuff if you don't think I'll say yes?"

"Probably because I'm a self-destructive moron who doesn't know what's good for me."

"Yeah, that's probably it."

**Funny thing is, I wasn't planning on having that happen in this chapter. No idea when I was going to do it, actually; it just sort of happened. So… yup. They're dating now. Isn't that special. What did you guys think of Lexi? Should she come back?**


	49. You Can't Punch Santa

**Massive time skip, sorry. I needed this fic to start moving a lot faster than it was, so, yup, it's December now. And I wanted to do something festive. I give you… shameless fluff. Merry Christmas. Or Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa, or Isaac Newton's birthday; whatever you prefer. ;) **

**Disclaimer: This chapter is absolutely pointless. I'm just throwing a few characters in a room and seeing what happens, because I happen to feel like it. The plot will resume shortly. Do not adjust your set.**

"Remind me again why we're doing this?"

Clarisse glared at me, cracking an egg with several times more force than seemed strictly necessary. "Pass the flour."

"Oh, right, I remember. Because you almost knocked me out right in front of Chiron."

"I'll knock you out for real if you don't shut up and pass me that godsdamned flour."

I rolled my eyes and chucked the bag in her general direction, knowing she'd catch it. "Honestly, what did I do this time?"

"You laughed at me!"

"You said you'd like to punch Santa in the face!"

"So?"

"What do you mean, 'so?' He's Santa Claus! You can't punch Santa!"

"Of course not," she sniffed. "He doesn't exist."

"I _know_ that. I meant aside from that."

"That's a pretty big thing to ignore in the punching-people department," she said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, well. How much sugar does this thing call for, anyway?" I pulled the recipe from the counter and shook it off, sneezing when a bunch of cinnamon and nutmeg flew in my face.

"Oh, 'cause you're so festive."

"Compared to you, I'm Frosty the godsdamned Snowman."

"Wow, that was cold," Clarisse said, rolling her eyes. "Uh, no pun intended. Anyway, at least this is better than regular KP."

"Is not. It's insult added to injury. And why do we have to do it in the Big House kitchen? What's wrong with the one the nymphs use?"

"Well, the nymphs use it, for one thing. Doubt they'd appreciate us showing up. Plus Chiron probably wants to make sure we don't try to kill each other."

"Oh, come on. We almost never do that."

"Sure, but we're also not usually around knives and stoves."

I gave her a strange look. "Should I be scared that you were even thinking about that?"

"You should _always _be scared."

"Touché."

Clarisse rolled her eyes again and yanked the dough away, not quite quickly enough to prevent me from stealing some of it.

"Hey, that's not bad."

"Why the tone of surprise?"

I shrugged. "I dunno, cooking just doesn't seem like it'd be a skill in your repertoire, you know?"

"You helped," she shrugged.

"Yeah, somehow I don't think I'm the reason they don't suck. I haven't cooked anything more complicated than a bowl of cereal in seven years, have you?"

"Sure. With my mom. This is her recipe."

"Really? I figured it was Chiron's." I looked at it more closely and realized that, instead of being typed like I'd thought, it was just very neat handwriting. "You just happened to have this lying around?"

"Um… sort of. See, my first year at camp, I got in trouble around this time of year, right?"

"I remember. You punched me."

She ignored me completely. "So I got this exact punishment, and I used my mom's recipe, since I had it memorized."

"I remember that, too. I had to help," I said, realizing why I'd been feeling a bit of déjà vu.

"Chiron liked the cookies, so now every year, whenever I beat someone up or whatever around Christmas, I end up baking cookies," she grumbled.

"How… festive." I snatched an apple from a bowl and sliced it with my sword while Clarisse stuck the cookie sheets in the oven. "How long will that take?"

"Ten, twelve minutes. You know there are knives, right?"

"That's no fun. Apple?" I asked, offering her a slice. She rolled her eyes yet again, but took it.

"Oh my _gods, _would you two just kiss already?"

I blinked, turned, and found Silena Beauregard standing on the other side of the little island thingy in the middle of the kitchen. She scowled impatiently, her hands on her hips.

"Okay, whoa, what is it with Aphrodite girls and sneaking up on people?" I objected. "That's our thing."

"It's not being sneaky, it's just knowing where we need to be."

"We're already dating. What more could you possibly want?" Clarisse said mutinously.

"Affection!" Silena cried, waving her arms around. Her sleigh-bell earrings jingled. "Warmth! Romance!"

I bit my lip and decided to let Clarisse take this one.

"_Romance?_" she squawked. "I do _not_ do romance!"

"Tenderness?"

"No."

"Besottedness?"

"Is that even a word?"

"Passion?"

There was a beat of silence. Clarisse tilted her head thoughtfully. "Eh, maybe a little."

Silena' eyebrows shot up, I started laughing, and Clarisse just looked confused.

"Okay," Silena said slowly. "Sure, I guess. That works too."

"I wish," I muttered. Both of them turned and looked at me, and I put on the most innocent expression I could manage. "What?"

This time Silena rolled her eyes. "Hopeless. Absolutely hopeless."

"Hey, it's all relative," I shrugged. "She hasn't knocked me out in almost a month now. Not for lack of trying, but still."

"Oh, please. I could if I wanted to."

"You'd have to catch me first."

"Would I, now?"

I finally noticed that she'd backed me into the corner, the counter digging into my back. I sighed resignedly, biting my lip and trying to pretend I hadn't noticed how smug she looked.

"Hey, look!" I said. "A distraction!"

Clarisse gave me possibly the least amused expression I'd seen in my life.

I shrugged again. "Ah, it was worth a shot."

"Look, would you just admit that I could totally knock you out if I felt like it?" she smirked.

I considered it for a moment, then leaned forward and kissed her for a split second, slipping past her before she reacted. "Not a chance."

Clarisse thwacked the back of my head lightly. "Could've right there, see?"

"But you didn't, did you? And what did you just hit me with?"

"Maimer."

"We're baking cookies! Why in Hades do you have a spear?"

"Says the man who cut an apple with a scimitar."

"It's sharper!" I said defensively.

Silena groaned. "Honestly. For two seconds, I have hope, and then you start bickering about weapons."

"It's sort of what we do," I said, glancing at the oven hopefully. "They smell good, too."

"Hmm," Clarisse agreed. She chucked Maimer in a corner casually, missing me by an inch. Silena yelped. I didn't even move. I'd pretty much gotten used to stuff like that. Clarisse seemed to be of the opinion that dating me meant she had the right to arbitrarily risk my life, but she'd saved it so many times that I figured she was sort of entitled. Anyway, I trusted her spear-throwing ability.

"Right," Silena sighed. "Well then. I guess I'll be going. Even though it's as cold as your relationship out there."

"Try the forge," I said. "That's always warm."

She grinned. "You know something? I think I will."

"What, you're playing Eros now?" Clarisse said as soon as Silena was gone.

I smirked. "Nice metaphor."

"In the matchmaker sense, I mean," she scowled.

"Of course you did. And no, I most certainly am not. I just figure the more occupied Silena is, the less time she has to harass us."

We both glanced out the window as Silena high-stepped past through the dusk. Her hair was already dusted with snow, a fact that she seemed less than pleased with, although it didn't stop her from pausing to glare at us through the deck's Christmas-light-covered railings.

"I guess that's true," Clarisse agreed.

I wandered over to the oven. "Four more minutes. I swear this thing's running on an alternate dimension's–"

I started to turn, and suddenly found myself with my back against the edge of the counter. Again.

"Um…?" I said uncertainly, wondering if she was still on that knocking-me-out thing. Probably not, I realized as she hugged me.

"Nothing," Clarisse said with a genuine smile, her face an inch from mine. "I just missed you last Christmas, punk."

**Aaand Foaly continues to be unable to write actual kissing scenes. Sorry. Use your imagination. I'll update tomorrow if I have time. Nico might drop by.**

**Edit: No time whatsoever, sorry. But Nico will still show up soon, I promise.**


	50. Exactly Whose Head Did I Almost Chop Off

**Ooh lookie, plot. Sort of. Close enough.**

"That's it," I complained. "When we get back to camp, Katie Gardner and I are having a talk."

"Fine," Clarisse said neutrally. "Gods, Chris, would you at least hold on with one hand?"

I glanced over the shoulder of the pegasus I was riding. The ground was a long way down. The view was nice, though.

"My arm's broken," I said defensively.

"Only one of them."

"And whose fault is that?"

"Uh, yours? You let a hellhound sneak up on you. Honestly, who the Hades falls for a stealth attack by a _hellhound?_"

"I didn't! The vines grabbed me! You saw it, didn't you?"

"Yeah," she sighed.

"And there was that time with the root and the scorpion, and the tree snapping in Richmond, and then another root while we were running from there, and I was only there because Katie suggested it… I don't know what the Hades I did, but Demeter has it out for me."

"Don't you think you'd be dead if she wanted you dead?"

"She can't kill me outright. The other gods wouldn't let her. Hermes wouldn't, at least. But I bet she could do the stuff she's been doing without them noticing."

Clarisse's pegasus dove sharply as Long Island came into view. Mine did too, a split second after I yelped and threw my good arm around its neck. The ones carrying the rest of the campers who'd come on the mission, namely Beckendorf, Sherman, and that crazy unclaimed kid, followed suit.

Chiron was waiting by the stables when we landed. He was wearing his _Teachers are Weapons of Mass Instruction_ T-shirt.

"Ah, good," he said, obviously relieved. "You're all here. I was starting to have doubts as to how many demigods that particular mission required. Any injuries?"

"A hellhound got Chris," Clarisse said cheerfully.

"Only a little," I protested.

Clarisse waited outside the Big House while Chiron put my arm in a cast for maybe the tenth time in the past few months. Not that I was the only one. I'd gotten off easy, really. Sometime between Christmas and Valentine's Day, the war had unofficially started. And because there were only about twenty year-round campers, the oldest few of us had been spending more time on missions away from camp than in our cabins. We could usually get help from any demigods who happened to live near wherever our mission sent us, of course, but it was still starting to get a little tiring.

"I can't believe how many counselors went home," Clarisse grumbled when I came out. "Did they not get the memo that we're fighting to save the world here?"

"Different priorities, that's all," I said neutrally.

"What, exactly, is important enough to trump the fate of the world?"

"Depends. You think we'll win? If it was me, I'd want to spend some time with my family."

She looked up at me sharply. "Sure. But we're going to win."

For a second, I thought she was just saying it, but then I saw the look in her eyes.

"We'll win," I agreed, and I meant it.

Clarisse flashed her teeth in a smile. "We're watching Saw II in my cabin tonight. Wanna come?"

"I hate watching horror movies with you guys. You laugh the whole time."

"So do you."

"Hysterically, maybe."

"Are you coming or not?"

"Of course," I sighed, swearing that one day I'd actually listen to that little voice in my head that knew what was good for me.

xxx

"Katie."

The Demeter counselor froze at the edge of the pavilion. I couldn't quite read the emotion in her eyes— maybe anger, or fear, or even guilt, but definitely nothing good.

"Yeah?"

I leaned against one of the pillars at the edge of the stone, placing us within sight but out of earshot of the rest. "You remember when Lexi got captured, and you suggested that I go on the mission to get her back?"

She visibly considered lying, but apparently decided against it. "Sending a Hermes kid made sense."

"Your mom didn't say anything?" I said, figuring I may as well throw down my cards.

Katie's eyes narrowed, this time with definite venom, which I hadn't expected. "And what makes you ask that?"

"Because plants in general seem to be out for my blood since I've gotten back from the Labyrinth. And since plants are, you know, inanimate objects, it seems a little weird."

"So you think Lady Demeter's after you?"

"It does seem logical, doesn't it?"

"You're crazy."

"Surprisingly, no," I said lightly. "Look, I could be seeing patterns in nothing, but I really don't see what harm it could do for you to tell me if I'm right. Which you pretty much already have, by being pissed off at me for no apparent reason."

"Fine," Katie snapped. "Lady Demeter told me to get you out of camp."

"Any particular reason why?"

She gaped at me. "What, you thought she'd ignore what you did to her son?"

"What, that kid I tripped over?" I said, thoroughly confused. "I wasn't aware that was a capital offense."

"Tripped over him? You practically chopped his head off!"

I blinked. "Okay, whoa. I don't think we're talking about the same dude here. Exactly whose head did I almost chop off?"

"Amphitheus!"

"What the Hades is an Amphitheus?"

"A son of Demeter, obviously! Deified, represents panhellenic peace?"

"Do I look like an Athena kid to you? Way too obscure."

"Well, you ought to know him!" Katie whisper-yelled. "You slit his throat!"

I breathed in hard, realizing who she was talking about. I didn't realize until Katie took a step back that I had a hand on my sword and a look on my face like I was about to add to my body count.

I took a deep breath and relaxed against the pillar again, closing my eyes. "He killed Mary. And I would've been dead if I hadn't done it. Didn't you say he was deified? He should be fine, shouldn't he?"

"He did what?"

I opened one eye. "He killed Mary Holland. How do you know about any of that, anyway?"

Katie looked a little uncertain. "Er… Lady Demeter told me what Amphitheus said."

"What Amphitheus said," I repeated with a grim laugh. "Let me guess. He beat the Hades out of me before I cheated somehow and got the jump on him, right?"

"Um… yeah."

"Try pretty much the exact opposite, except he killed a ten-year-old before fighting me, both of which happened after I'd already been fighting so long I collapsed. And you can ask Dionysus if you don't believe me; I'm pretty sure he took the liberty of going through my memories before bringing me back," I said bitterly. "So, yeah, I did slit his throat. If I could've killed him for real, I would have."

"Oh."

"Mm. So given the story Demeter heard, I don't blame her, but I wouldn't mind Amphitheus getting his panhellenic ass down here and settling whatever problem he has with me face-to-face."

"Um… you know he's a god, right?"

"Didn't seem to matter last time." I hoped he'd take me up on it, actually. It would be nice to fight him when I wasn't already half-dead. And I was a lot stronger now than I was then. Dating Clarisse tended to do that to you, and not just because of the ridiculous number of hours spent training.

Katie stared at the ground. I realized guiltily that I'd put her in an impossible situation. Demeter wouldn't forgive and forget that easily. Even if she realized Amphitheus had lied, she wasn't likely to just let it go after hating me for so long. And now I'd made her look bad on top of it. She wouldn't be happy with Katie for letting me get my side of the story out there. And Katie probably thought I was mad at her, too. The fact that I'd been glaring at her for the past few minutes might have had something to do with it. Then again, maybe I really was angry at her. I wasn't actually sure.

"Well, I'll, um…" she said uncertainly. "I guess if Demeter contacts me, I can…"

"Thanks." It came out a little more brusquely than I'd intended.

"Sorry about Richmond. Lady Demeter just told me to–"

"Don't worry about it," I cut her off. "Nothing personal. You shouldn't have gotten caught in the crossfire." Hopefully Demeter would take the hint not to take anything out on Katie. Amphitheus, yes. Katie, no.

Katie nodded once and walked off calmly in the direction of her cabin. I stayed where I was, tapping my finger on my sword hilt thoughtfully and wondering what to make of what I'd just learned.

"Amphitheus, huh?"

I half-smiled at Clarisse's voice behind me. She had probably been leaning against the other side of the pillar all along.

"Guess so."

"I hope he comes down here." She swung around it so that she was standing next to me. "If he does, can I watch while you beat him up?"

"Since when do you like me winning fights?"

"Of course I do. Just not when you're fighting me, because that means I lose, which I don't like."

"Logical. Sure you can. If he gets up the nerve, which I doubt, there's no way he'll fight fair. He'll bring a bunch of Cyclopes or something. I wouldn't mind having someone watching my back."

Clarisse grinned. "Anytime. So how about that Saw movie?"

**Anybody ever seen those? They're pretty special. This is sort of the point where whatever plot I had rolls over and dies, so suggestions/preferences are particularly welcome.**

**Duuude. Fifty chapters. Trippy.**


	51. Silena Knows Freaking Everything

**Thanks to AlexisBellatrixBlack for giving me the idea of Alice and CruzdelSur for unintentionally giving me the kick in the pants I needed to actually write this. ;)**

Amphitheus did not, in fact, get his panhellenic ass down to Camp Half-Blood.

Which turned out to be a good thing, because somewhere near the end of March, Kronos apparently decided to stop screwing around. I spent a third of my time on attack missions, a third defending camp, and the rest unconscious, sleeping or otherwise. But I had nothing on the Ares cabin. We would've been overrun ten times over without them. I honestly wasn't sure if they ever rested.

I wandered into the dining pavilion, still in my pajamas, but with my sword slung over my shoulder. No one went anywhere unarmed anymore. Some of the younger kids wouldn't even go anywhere alone. Not that I blamed them. One little kid had gotten pissed off about something and wandered into the woods to sulk, and nobody ever saw him again. Of course, some people said he'd deserted. I usually kept my mouth shut.

There weren't as many kids in the pavilion as usual. The Demeters were in the woods trying to talk some trees into forming a stockade, and the Athenas were guarding them. The Hephaestuses were probably holed up somewhere trying to figure out how to destroy the Princess Andromeda, which Chiron still insisted was a last resort. My half-siblings were snoring in our cabin. In fact, the only cabins there were—

Aw, come on.

I sighed as I rounded the corner and saw Clarisse and Michael Yew staring each other down. Honestly. The sun was barely up. Where did they find the energy?

Clarisse shot me a warning look, and I raised my hands in surrender. I had no intention of interfering unless someone drew blood. And even then, it depended on whose, and how much. But mostly whose.

I grabbed some food and plunked next to Kieran at the Ares table. Technically not allowed, but breakfast wasn't nearly as formal as dinner, and I was the only Hermes kid there. And perhaps more importantly, Chiron wasn't. The only one who might kill me was Ares himself. Somehow, though, I doubted he would. If he hadn't killed me already, he had to be okay with me, didn't he? I had no clue. I had the weirdest feeling that the polite thing was for me to talk to him first. _Hey there, all-powerful deity of war and bloodshed. I like your daughter. Would you mind letting me live?_ Fun stuff. Not that it mattered, since I'd never actually met him.

The disagreement was apparently resolved without devolving into a full-on fight, and Clarisse slid onto the bench next to me.

"Hey," she said, dropping her boar helmet onto the table and making my plate of bacon jump a little.

"Hey."

To my surprise, another girl sat down next to her. She was maybe fourteen or fifteen, black, with the same build as Clarisse, but facial features that would have fit better on a Hermes kid. Her hair was in two braids. She wore the usual camp T-shirt and a pair of jeans, but she had a long, wicked knife strapped to her belt.

"Ares claimed another girl?" I asked, trying to gauge Clarisse's expression to figure out exactly how she felt about this.

"Sure did." Clarisse smiled as she said it, so I figured the new girl and I were both safe. "Her first night. She showed up with an Athena boy. Bunch of monsters after them, but she took them out and dragged the Athena kid over the border before the patrol even reached them."

The girl shrugged modestly. As soon as she looked up, I had to reassess my opinion that her face was more suited to a Hermes kid. Her eyes were dark brown, but at the right angle, that red glint was definitely there.

"And Ares claimed her right away, before Athena even claimed the other kid."

I kept searching Clarisse's face for jealousy, but it just wasn't there. Ares had been more eager to claim this girl than he had Clarisse. Shouldn't Clarisse hate her? I mean, I was happy she didn't, if only because fighting within the camp didn't do anybody any good in the middle of a war, but I was still confused. As usual.

"Alice, this is Chris Rodriguez. He's Hermes," Clarisse continued. "Chris, this is Alice Caligari."

Alice smiled at me. "Hey."

I couldn't help thinking that she seemed a little distracted when she looked at me. As soon as her attention was on Clarisse again, I glanced over my shoulder to see what there was behind me that was so interesting.

The Athena table, as it turned out. A boy I didn't recognize, about Alice's age, turned bright red and looked at his food when he realized I'd caught him staring at the Ares table. He had a black eye, and his arm was in a cast. Almost certainly the kid she'd saved the previous night.

Hmm.

xxx

"Silena, you know everything, right?"

She turned to look at me, pointing the bow she was sighting down at my face in the process. "Hmm? Sorry," she added when I ducked and covered. "Of course I do. What's up?"

"Nothing, really. Just a bit of Clarisse psychology I'm trying to puzzle out."

"Ooh!" she squealed. "The doctor is _in!_"

Five seconds into the conversation, and I was already regretting opening my big mouth. I noticed Chiron looking at me and hurriedly sent an arrow at the target, tilting my head bemusedly when it actually hit within a respectable distance of the bulls-eye.

"You know that knew Ares girl, Alice Caligari?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Why doesn't Clarisse hate her?"

Silena's face lit up. "Why indeed?" she cried. "Well, last night, I was asking myself that very same question, so I did a bit of detective work–"

"You mean stalking?"

"Same thing. In any case, I observed all involved parties in their natural habitat, as it were. And the results were telling." She pulled out her cell phone and checked the time. "Eeehxcellent!"

I frowned. "That was the most unsettlingly supervillain-y way I've ever heard anyone say anything. And I'm dating a sociopath."

"Well, whose fault is that?"

"… Uh, yours, kind of."

"It is, isn't it?" Silena said triumphantly. "Come on, I've got to show you something." She dragged my arm and pulled me in the direction of the dining pavilion.

"We're not stalking anyone, are we?"

"Observing. We're observing." She leaned against the back of Zeus' cabin casually.

I clapped a hand to my forehead. "Oh, gods, I'm stalking a fifteen-year-old."

"Hush. Watch."

The Athena cabin tromped in from the direction of the training arena, half of them armored, all of them armed. They followed Malcolm between the marble pillars. Most of them, at least. One trailed behind, looking over his shoulder. He was a tall, skinny kid with dark blond hair and grey eyes. The same one I'd noticed yesterday, I realized.

The Ares cabin rounded the corner a moment later. They looked grumpy. Arts and Crafts, probably. It would do that to you.

The Athena kid was buffeted to the side by a few big Ares boys. I lost sight of him for a moment as he vanished behind a pillar.

"Now, watch carefully," Silena said. "See Clarisse? Pay attention."

I hadn't even noticed Clarisse hanging back, but sure enough, she was at the rear of the pack. Not her usual style. She glanced over her shoulder, just as Alice melted from the group. The Athena boy appeared again. The younger kids hugged each other. Clarisse grinned like an Aphrodite girl and vanished into the pavilion.

I blinked. "Wait, what?"

Silena rolled her eyes. "The two of them are dating. They came here together, remember? They went to the same school."

"Okay? And?"

"And, they _like_ each other."

"… And?"

"And she's an Ares girl!"

"So?"

"Gods, you're hopeless," Silena groaned. "It's just a bigger data sample, see? More evidence for Clarisse that it's actually possible for boys to like Ares girls."

"I'm not enough evidence?" I said indignantly.

She shrugged. "One data point is no data at all. I'm not saying she doesn't think you like her, because she does, but it still makes her feel better. I don't think she ever managed to convince herself that it wasn't just some crazy thing about her being the first thing you saw when you woke up or something. She knows you like her, but sometimes she thinks you were sort of… railroaded into it, I guess."

"I liked her before."

"Well, tell her that."

"Fine."

"And as to why she's not jealous that Alice was claimed faster…" She smiled coyly. "Well, I convinced her it was because her example inspired Ares to pay more attention to his daughters, combined with the fact that camp would need as many Ares kids as it could get. Who knows, it might even be true."

"It _is_ true."

"Yeah," she said agreeably. "Anyway, I figured Clarisse needed more girlfriends. Maybe Alice actually has some fashion sense! I bet she could talk Clarisse into wearing something nice. Wouldn't that be great?"

It took me a second to register the question, distracted by the mental image of Clarisse in an evening gown. "What? Oh, uh, yeah. Fashion sense. Great."

Right about then, the Hephaestus cabin showed up. Beckendorf grinned at Silena before leading his cabin into the pavilion. Silena's eyes widened and she waved dazedly at his cabin's backs.

I snapped my fingers in front of her face, wondering when Camp Half-Blood had turned into the set of a soap opera. Although Clarisse and I were some of the worst offenders. At least Silena and Beckendorf didn't tend to make out immediately after screaming at each other roughly once every two weeks. Still, Clarisse and I would fight a drakon for each other. Although Clarisse probably would've fought one just for kicks. But that was what I liked about her.

**And as usual, there's no real ending, but that's all I've got. Sorry. I've got the ending all planned out, but there's a bit of filler to plow through first, which is my excuse for a ridiculously slow update rate and boring chapters. **

**So, Lexi or Alice? Or both? Neither? Any ideas about Alice and the Athena boy?**


	52. Baby There's a Shark in the Water

**Ello poppits. Funny story where I finished this like a week ago, but didn't have internet at the time, so I totally forgot to publish it. My bad. :D**

One thing I certainly never saw coming was calculus saving my life.

Not just calculus, I guess. But I couldn't sleep, thanks to a combination of nightmares and my cabinmates muttering prophecies about flying pigs. So I grabbed my textbook, stumbled outside, and leaned against the rough wood of Cabin Eleven.

It was a clear night. The moon alone provided enough light for me to see. Wind from the Sound blew through the woods and over the camp, taking all kinds of hisses and wails with it from the woods. It didn't really help with that whole "concentration" thing, but I knew I was still better off out here than in my cabin. Even if the wind did keep trying to snatch my papers.

If water is flowing into a cone at a rate of nine cubic feet per second...

Enthralling stuff.

So really, it was a good thing math was so boring. If it hadn't been, I might have been focused enough to miss one tiny little noise mixed with the ambient sounds from the woods. A yell, cut off almost instantly. But definitely human. The patrol?

I stood up carefully. I didn't want to be the boy who cried wolf, but I didn't want to see camp overrun, either. The sound didn't repeat itself. But camp seemed quieter than usual, somehow.

A shadow darted across a pillar of the Zeus cabin. I jumped a mile and drew back into the shadows of the Hermes cabin's roof. It could just be a demigod on patrol, but somehow I doubted it.

More shadows caught my attention, this time down the line from me. Something big was throwing a shadow into the middle of the horseshoe from the alley between the Ares and Apollo cabins.

I drew my sword as quietly as I could and risked a few steps into the open. Something was definitely going on, but I still couldn't see what.

A Laistrygonian peered around the corner cautiously, first in the direction of the Zeus cabin, then toward me. A few more strolled past him, headed toward the door of the Ares cabin. I didn't bother hiding when the first giant looked straight at me.

"ARES!" I yelled as loudly as I could.

Three giants charged me instantly. I heard voices from my cabin, but I knew none of them would be helping me anytime soon. Hermes kids weren't exactly known for that whole springing-into-action thing.

I considered facing the Laistrygonians down for maybe half a second before changing my mind and dodging off to the right. Three at once was a bit of a long shot. I just had to make sure they didn't kill anybody before some other demigods could help.

One of the giants swung his club at the door of the Ares cabin. Right before it hit, the door swung open and the club smacked into the frame. A fully-armored kid rammed a sword into the monster's gut and gave it a solid kick, sending the Laistrygonian tumbling to the ground before it dissolved. Another guy stood behind the first, backing him up with a spear.

The giants chasing me abruptly gave up, apparently deciding the Apollo cabin was a better target, or at least a significantly slower one, what with it being a building and all. I cursed and took off after them. Which, I realized, may have been the plan all along, assuming they were actually smart enough to come up with something like that, which I wasn't quite sure about. Two of them turned again to face me, while the third started battering Cabin Seven's door. Luckily, most of the campers were at least awake by now. Michael Yew stuck his head out the window and fired a ridiculous number of arrows at the giant.

More and more monsters poured into camp. I had an awful feeling about whoever had been on sentry duty, although I couldn't for the life of me remember who it was.

The two giants finally got close enough for one of them to take a swing at me. I ducked the club and struck back, slashing the Laistrygonian's knees deeply enough to send him to the ground with a howl. I swiped at him again, but his friend's club clipped my shoulder, turning what was supposed to be a killing blow into another painful, but nonfatal wound. The monster yelled again. I knew it was risky, but I tried one more time, going more for a mercy kill than anything else. That time I got lucky. I threw myself out of the way just in time to avoid the second giant's next strike.

A fair number of campers had made it out of their cabins by now, although there were so few year-rounders left that the most we'd be able to muster was around twenty-five or thirty. A few Apollos were firing arrows out of their cabin's windows. The Athenas were outside, and I could tell the Demeters were helping, because the grass was starting to go after the monsters. The Ares kids were still stuck in their cabin. They were defending the door easily, but they couldn't kill the monsters fast enough to make any headway, since only two demigods could face them at a time and the pack was clustered right at their front door.

Right on cue, a figure in sweatpants and a jersey tumbled out a window, making a perfect three-point landing like something out of an action movie. Clarisse threw herself at a pack of monsters like a fox at hens. The rest of her cabinmates followed her example, minus the graceful landing in some cases.

I finally killed the second Laistrygonian and took a look at my immediate surroundings. And gulped. I'd run straight out into the middle of the horseshoe, by the firepit. Which would've been fine, except it meant I was surrounded by monsters and cut off from the rest of the campers. Probably not a good strategy, in retrospect, but whatever. At least the monsters weren't paying me any attention.

At least, I didn't think they were. Until a hellhound jumped clear over my head, wheeled around, and bowled straight into me, knocking me to the ground. One of its paws was on my sword arm, but I managed to twist just far enough to jab my swordpoint into its flank. It yelped and reared back. I scrambled to my feet and took off toward the cabins, hoping get out of the pack of monsters.

On the up side, the monsters were clearly losing the battle. This wasn't a full invasion force, and it was quickly being decimated. On the downside, it was starting to seem as though I personally might be profoundly screwed. The shrinking pack of monsters was beginning to notice that there was a stranded demigod in the middle of it. Actually killing any monsters was starting to look out of the question. Not getting killed was going to be tricky.

The same hellhound crouched in front of me, clearly preparing to spring. I braced myself to kill it in the air. And out of nowhere, what felt like a Laistrygonian's club hit me right between the shoulder blades, hard enough to send me to the ground. I stayed down, winded and wondering whether the hit had actually done some damage.

I sensed the Laistrygonian raising his club over me and slashed at him blindly. It hurt like Hades, but it beat taking a club to the back of the head. The giant jumped back from the slow strike with a chuckle. I hauled myself up onto one hand and swung at him again. That time I opened a long cut across his leg, which shut him up. He tried another strike with his club. I rolled onto my side and tried to block it with my sword, but the angle was incredibly awkward and I couldn't get any strength behind it. I yelped as the impact sent reverberations through my hand, twisting my wrist painfully and knocking me onto my back again. My swordpoint buried itself six inches into the ground. The curve of the blade arched over my neck and shoulder, the edge an inch from my throat.

Well, damn.

I tore my sword from the ground and lunged before the giant could raise his club again. Finally, I got a good strike in, taking the Laistrygonian through the gut. Only for the hellhound to pounce on me again before I could stand up straight. I swore mentally as the ground slammed into my back, knocking the wind out of me yet again. This time the monster seemed to have learned its lesson. My sword arm was well and truly pinned. I twisted desperately, but the hellhound was way too heavy to throw off.

I looked up at the monster's face and cringed at the sight of its teeth, cursing myself for it. This really wasn't what I had in mind for dying. Getting my throat ripped out seemed like a decidedly unpleasant way to go, and the hellhound was looking at me like a shark at a fat kitten that had been chucked into the ocean, presumably by someone with a few issues to work out.

The monster snarled and went for my throat. I closed my eyes and cowered. And then the weight was gone, aside from something relatively light that landed on me.

I opened my eyes to find Clarisse's spear lying across my chest. The hellhound was a pile of ashes. As I watched, the demigods closed in on the last few monsters, slashing them to dust.

I whistled and let my head flop back to the ground. That one had been way too close. My heart was pounding, and I was pretty sure I was trembling. My luck had to be running pretty thin by now.

Clarisse stomped over and snatched her spear. "Thanks," she said.

I blinked. "Huh?"

"For warning us."

"Oh yeah. No problem."

"You okay?" Clarisse said.

I realized I'd have to suck it up at some point, so I hauled myself to my feet, wincing and wondering exactly how spectacular a shade of blue my back would be tomorrow. My best guess was "very."

"I'm fine. Are the sentries okay? Who was out there tonight?"

Clarisse paled. "Kieran, Evan, Amanda, and Patrick."

"I'll go check on them," Chiron's voice said. We looked up to see him standing over us. His face was smudged with ash, and his quiver was half-empty. I realized that he must have run to the cabins as soon as he heard me, to have gotten there in time for the battle. He must have been sleeping with one eye open for two thousand years.

Two seconds after Chiron vanished, Kieran and Evan, a Demeter kid, came pounding into the space between the cabins.

"Monsters?" Kieran said indignantly. "Aw, c'mon, did I really miss it? Must've sneaked past me."

I could see the relief on Clarisse's face, but of course she didn't express it. "Forget that. How the Hades did they get past the barrier?"

"The Fleece is missing. That's why we ran down here. We passed Thalia's pine and realized it was gone."

"Peleus?"

"Unconscious. Looked like he was drugged."

Clarisse looked around at the debris filling the clearing. No dead bodies, thankfully, but plenty of wounded demigods and monster weapons. "There can't have been more than fifteen or twenty of them. They weren't here to fight. I bet they were just supposed to steal the Fleece, but they got cocky and figured they'd take the whole camp. Sneaked right past the sentries."

"Sorry," Kieran said abashedly.

"Not your fault. Four people can't really cover the whole border. The point is just for someone to notice if something's wrong, and you did."

"Hey, Clarisse!"

I couldn't help noticing how everyone, not just the Ares cabin, looked to her as the leader. The kid who had called her was from my cabin. She stood next to the Ares cabin's front steps, pointing underneath them quizzically.

Clarisse marched under, looked under the steps, and pulled the Fleece out. "Found it," she said unnecessarily. "See? I was right. They were the ones who took it. But then they dropped it when we killed them."

A few of Clarisse's brothers loped off to Thalia's tree with the Fleece. Chiron appeared between the Zeus and Hera cabins a few seconds later, his head hanging. The clearing went dead silent. He kept walking, emerging fully from the shadows between them, and everyone gasped. Patrick and Amanda, the other two sentries, were draped over his back. The Hephaestus and Apollo cabins cried out in dismay.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Clarisse's hands ball into fists, and I knew exactly why. No one had been killed since the Battle of the Labyrinth. Her winning streak had just been broken. It was the first time I'd seen a camper die, actually, although of course dead demigods in general were nothing new to me.

The demigods started drifting back to their cabins. Michael Yew and Beckendorf followed Chiron up to the Big House. Clarisse tossed and caught her spear idly.

"Nice throw," I said, taking a gamble that it would cheer her up at least a little.

"Lucky for you."

"Definitely."

"How'd you even manage to get yourself into that one?"

I shrugged. "I dunno, poor planning?"

"Hmph."

"Aw, c'mon, are you honestly mad at me for that?"

She rolled her eyes. "No. You just really suck at not dying, you know that?"

"_Almost_ dying. I suck at not _almost_ dying. I'm great at not dying. Haven't screwed it up once."

"You're an idiot."

"Of course I am, but I'm your idiot. You know you love me."

"Sure. I'm just happy I looked up when I did."

"Me too."

Wait, had Clarisse just said she loved me? Indirectly? Sort-of-kind-of?

"Are you sure you don't do it on purpose?" she said with a scowl. "I need to stop being so nice whenever you almost get yourself killed."

I hugged her with one arm before she could dodge away. "I can assure you I don't. It just happens. I'm hardly the only one, am I?"

She sighed and didn't shake me off. "Guess not."

"Still, I owe you one."

"You owe me like fifty."

**So, yup. Totally lost track of where I'm going with this again, but whatever. And no, I haven't forgotten about Nico. NO ONE COULD FORGET ABOUT NICO.**

**Three cheers for iTunes free singles, amiright?**


	53. Nico Sees Dead People

**Just for the record, I've sort of gotten used to dealing with the narrator I'm using for another story, who happens to be an interrogator's assistant and one hell of a cynical bastard. So if Chris seems a little more sociopathic than usual, that would be why. Sorry about that.**

**Also, I just figured out that Beckendorf asked Silena out the summer before BotL, not TLO. Whoops. Oh well. Canon? What canon?**

The first truly sweltering day came halfway through July. The sun shone, bees buzzed (and, amazingly, left me alone), and half the camp's population was in the canoe lake, dunking each other and pissing off the naiads. Even I was in a good mood, despite the fact that I'd started having nightmares again. I was half-asleep, flopped on my back halfway down the pier with my feet in the water, Clarisse sitting cross-legged next to me.

"Man, even I don't want monsters to attack today. Too damn hot," she commented. The wood clacked as she tapped something against the pier.

"Is that Maimer?" I asked without opening my eyes.

"Duh."

"You think that's a good idea?" I said lazily. "Water and electricity?"

"Eh."

Before I had a chance to reply to that, our conversation was interrupted by a splashing, spluttering sound from under the dock. I sat up as Clarisse put Maimer down, grumbling to herself. We leaned over the edge simultaneously. There was only a foot or so of space between the bottom of the pier and the surface of the water. The sight alone made me nervous, but not enough to make me dizzy or anything, so I figured it would be good practice for me to deal with it.

"What the…?" Clarisse said.

There was a kid splashing around under the pier, gasping curses between mouthfuls of water. He couldn't seem to keep his head above the surface, like his clothes were caught on something. He couldn't have been more than eleven or twelve. It was hard to get a good look at him, but his hair was black, and his skin was the palest I'd ever seen.

Clarisse and I glanced at each other, still upside-down.

"Don't look at me," she said. "I'm wearing armor."

I gave a long-suffering sigh and dove in. I still wasn't too sure about that whole going-under-the-dock thing, but I knew Clarisse could get her armor off and save both the kid and my sorry ass if I'd somehow misjudged it.

"You caught on something?" I asked, treading water.

The kid lunged for one of the pillars, but didn't really go anywhere. He slipped beneath the surface again. I grabbed his arm and pulled him back up, dragging him a foot or so toward me in the process. It certainly didn't feel like he was caught. What could he have snagged himself on, anyway?

The boy was a little too busy drowning to answer me, so I pulled him out from under the pier. Clarisse leaned over, grabbed him around the chest, and dragged him out of the water, throwing him onto the wooden slats on his back. I pulled myself out before she could do the same to me.

"You okay?" I said to the kid. "Where'd you come from, anyway?"

He rolled onto his stomach and spat out water, cursing a few more times. I found myself reminded of Mary after I lifted her out of the well. This kid looked nothing like her, but I could already see some of the same attitude. Suddenly I wished she were here. The two of them could've been friends.

"Hades," he muttered.

"Are you a camper?" I said, accepting that he wasn't going to answer me.

"No, I mean I came from Hades. Literally." He coughed again, propping himself up on his elbows and reaching down to touch the hilt of a blade on his belt, like he was afraid he might have lost it. "They don't offer swimming lessons down there. 'Cause everyone's already dead."

"Ah."

The kid looked up at me curiously. "Not to sound full of myself, but do you not know who I am? It's just… you know, most people around here do."

"You're the son of Hades," I realized. I had never met him, but I'd heard him mentioned. "Nico, right?"

Clarisse huffed. "Oh, yeah. Nico and Prissy. Only ones the Fates care about."

"It's not my fault." Nico couldn't seem to decide between making his tone angry and apologetic. "And don't you blame Percy. He's trying to help."

"So, uh," I interrupted before Clarisse could shove the kid back into he water. "How'd you end up under the dock? Were you swimming or something? Even though you, uh, apparently can't?"

He gave me a weird look. "Why would I be swimming in jeans and a leather jacket? I was shadow traveling. Mostly I end up where I want to. I was close this time. Aiming for the shadows in the woods."

"Well, can you blame me for not assuming right off the bat that you teleported? I figured you could probably see dead people or whatever, but that one seems a little out there." I thought for a moment. "So what happens if you appear in a shoebox or something?"

Clarisse elbowed me.

"What? It's a valid question. Actually, no, I guess the shoebox would break. But what about, I don't know, a filing cabinet?"

Nico gave me a long look. "I've never shadow traveled into a filing cabinet."

"Well, it doesn't seem like the kind of thing you'd do on purpose. I meant— Ow!" I yelped as Clarisse elbowed me again.

"I have no idea," the kid said. "But if I ever shadow travel into a filing cabinet, I'll be sure to let you know how it goes."

"Thank you."

"No problem."

Clarisse glanced from one of us to the other like she wasn't quite sure whether or not to take the exchange seriously.

"So, uh, did you need something, or are you just dropping by?" she finally said. All the venom had left her voice, and I got the feeling that any dislike she had for Nico was purely obligatory.

He sighed. "Sort of."

"Sort of, which one?"

"I dunno. My dad told me to visit here."

"Why?"

"I dunno."

"He really didn't say?"

"Well…"

"What is it, Nico?"

He ducked his head guiltily. "Well, he kinda wanted me to spend a while here so I could, um, see what it's like. Because he's hoping I'll, um… Well, I think he hopes I won't like it here—won't like the other demigods—and…"

"He wants you to stay out of the war?"

"Yup. But I don't want to! Stay out, I mean! I dunno if I want to stay here, especially since I just told you that, which I didn't really mean to, so I'd appreciate it if you'd keep it to yourselves, because I don't want people thinking I'm going to bail on you if you need me, which I guess you might not, but then again you kinda need everyone you can get, so—"

"Are you sure you're not Mary's doppleganger or something?" I cut him off without thinking. I hadn't heard a run-on sentence that long since Antaeus's arena.

Nico froze. "Mary?"

"Uh, yeah, why?"

"Are you Chris Rodriguez?"

I blinked, definitely not used to people knowing or caring who I was. "Yeah. You know Mary? Did you talk to her or something?"

"It's sort of a long story."

"I'd love to hear it."

Nico pulled his jacket off and yawned. "Fine, but don't get too pissed off if I fall asleep. Shadow traveling is tiring, and I haven't slept in a while."

"Fine."

"So first of all, I really shouldn't be doing this," he said, lowering his voice. "I just have to hope Dad isn't watching me right now. What I said before was true, about him sending me, but that's not really why I'm here. See, the security force in the Underworld is made mostly of the dead. Soldiers from every time period. Nobody pays them much attention, but they work in shifts, and lots of times you'll see the same one in the same place every day. So I've spent a fair amount of time down there recently, and there's this one woman, Marine I think, who's always at the end of my hallway. And I had never spoken to her, but one day she asked me a favor."

Clarisse looked unusually thoughtful at the concept of dead people asking favors, like maybe she had someone in mind. I wondered how much of his life Nico spent carrying messages between the dead and the living.

"She told me her daughter had joined her in the Underworld—they're both in Elysium, before you ask, at least when the woman's off-duty. And today's her daughter's birthday, so she wanted to do something nice for her. Like I said, I wasn't going to visit here like Dad wanted me to, but the daughter-Mary, that is- really wanted to give a message to someone at camp."

"Me?" I said disbelievingly.

Nico gave me another look. "Duh."

"What'd she say?" I had no idea why, but I was suddenly nervous.

"She says let it go. She says he was a coward, but you can't carry that grudge for the rest of your life. Forgive the gods. All they are is human nature."

"But that creep killed her!"

"Look, I don't even know who she was talking about, all right? But it sounds like decent advice to me," he shrugged. "I mean, the gods… they're not even real, you know? In a way? They're just sort of… I dunno, the personification of distilled concepts. What they actually do day-to-day, the little stuff, is a facade. You can't really _hate_ them without hating what they represent."

"Screw panhellenic peace," I muttered.

"Huh?"

"Forget it."

"Oh, and she also said that if you started grumbling about it, I should remind you that she saved your life two and a half times." He thought for a moment. "And she'd like to know if you finally kissed that Ares girl."

I couldn't be entirely sure, but I swore Clarisse was biting back a grin.

I half-smiled despite myself. "Yeah, you can tell her I did. If you don't mind carrying another message, that is."

"No problem. She's nice. I'd probably talk to her again anyway. Anything else?"

"Tell her I'll do my best." I thought for a minute. "And thank you."

**Three cheers for Nico de freaking Angelo, amiright? But seriously, can you imagine how many errands he must run for people? Then again, when you can teleport…**

**Also, if you haven't been following Calamity Clarisse (linked on my favorites list), you should definitely go do that, because I have a feeling the next chapter is going to be interesting.**

**Not to be a total review whore (even though I am), but I'd definitely like to know how many people are actually still reading this. So, yeah, reviews much appreciated, as always. :)**

**Edit: Thanks to swimgirl99 for pointing out that Mary's dad can't be a Marine, what with him being Apollo and all. I'm an idiot.**


	54. Mad Skills

**I can't find my copy of SoM, so I'm probably going to go against canon somehow. Again. Pay no attention to the retcon behind the curtain.**

I was glad when the Ares cabin returned from the raid, tromping over Half-Blood Hill wearily.

I stopped being quite so glad when I saw the look on Clarisse's face. It kind of reminded me of the look she'd made when an Aphrodite girl hit on me. Then, of course, she tried to murder the girl. I had to sit on her. It was sort of uncomfortable for all parties involved.

I put a few seconds of serious thought into just slipping away before she noticed me, seeing as what I was doing could only be described as lurking in the first place. I knew it bugged her that it bugged me when she went on raids without me. Or with me, for that matter. But I knew I couldn't stop her any more than she could stop me from doing the same thing.

Finally I decided that if she was in such a bad mood she might actually hurt someone, taking the brunt of that was in my job description. And if she wasn't, no problem. Getting yelled at wasn't even a blip on the radar after dating Clarisse for a few months.

"Sooo, how'd it go?" I said cheerfully, skipping up to her and throwing an arm over her shoulder. She flipped me onto my back without breaking stride. Admittedly, I may not have picked the _most_ politic approach to that.

"How do you think it went? We killed a bunch of monsters."

I sprang to my feet and bounded after her. "But you like killing things, Clarisse m'dear. So why do you look like someone kicked your puppy?"

"None of your business."

"Aw, c'mon. I'm nosy." I dodged a punch without missing a beat. "If you don't let me listen to your problems, what the Hades am I for?"

"Shutting up comes to mind."

"Anyone can do that. And most inanimate objects."

She rolled her eyes. "The Apollo cabin is a bunch of wussy, conniving little bitches. Happy?"

"Oh, very. It's a beautiful day and I'm not currently getting murdered by monsters. Nothing to complain about."

"Do the words 'rhetorical question' mean anything to you?"

"Was that a rhetorical question?"

Clarisse closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "No way. I am not going through this routine with you again."

"Killjoy. So what, exactly, did the offspring of His Majesty the Most Honored God of the Sun, Poetry, and All That Jazz do to incur your mighty wrath?"

"They jacked our chariot."

"Since when do you have a chariot? You mean from that race?"

"We don't have a chariot! We captured one! But they're claiming it, because they happened to take out the demigods who'd been driving it. It was our raid, though. That loot should've been ours. Plus they drove it home and left us there just to piss us off. How did you miss a cabinful of demigods in a flying chariot probably crash-landing into camp?"

I shrugged innocently.

Clarisse narrowed her eyes. "You fell asleep, didn't you? Right on the edge of camp, in the middle of a war?"

"Maybe."

"How are you still alive?"

"You know, I get that question surprisingly often. What can I say? I've got mad skills."

There was a certain look that only Clarisse could do. It was the very definition of the concept of not being amused. I got it kind of a lot. Including now.

"You gonna ask Chiron about it?" I said, more to distract her than anything else.

"He doesn't like us. Anyway, that's not how we solve our problems. You know that."

"Why yes, as a matter of fact, I do. What do you mean, he doesn't like you?"

"I mean, he doesn't like us. He's all about medicine and wisdom and speaking really quietly. Talk first, fight if you have to. And maybe that _is_ the right thing to do, whatever the Hades that means, but it's not what we do. We can't. So he won't take our side in anything. Never has, never will."

"What, so you negotiate with the Apollos?"

Clarisse gritted her teeth and rammed Maimer into a tree behind my head. "Oh, yeah. _Negotiate._"

"Please don't kill anyone."

She gave me a sideways look, and for a moment I expected that spear in my chest any minute. Out of nowhere, she hung her head, sighing and chucking Maimer at the ground defeatedly. "It gets old."

"Huh?"

"I dunno. Being one of us. What everyone else thinks of us. You have no idea how tough it is to keep my cabin motivated. Oh, yeah, they'll fight. But people've got to realize that we're not soldiers. We're war personified. We're not any more disciplined or loyal than anyone else. Probably less, really. We just fight for the sake of fighting, and sometimes the Ares half of us totally forgets what we're fighting for. That's all human. And humans are petty. When I'm trying to convince them to run a little faster or fight a little harder for Olympus's sake, I'm not dealing with the Ares cabin. The Ares cabin doesn't give a damn, as long as something's bleeding. I'm dealing with Sherman and Kieran and Tom and Alice and all the rest."

"But it works."

"So far, yeah. But trying to keep my cabin organized… to keep them, not to mention myself, from really hurting anybody else… Well, let's just say I'd like to see our fearless _leader_ Prissy do it." She spat the word with venom I had never heard from her. Not even the times I'd pissed her off enough that I actually had to draw my sword to keep her from killing me. This wasn't her usual fiery, chaotic rage. This was bitter resentment that she must have been stuffing down for years.

"Your cabin knows, though. And so do I."

"Great. That's just fucking fantastic, you know? Ten percent of camp thinks maybe I'm worth having around. The rest would probably be relieved if I got myself killed, even though this place would fall in a fucking week if that happened!"

It was an interesting change of pace to be around when she was angry, but not at me. I took a step back for just in case.

"And everybody worships the ground the Big Three kids walk on, because they can do fucking magic, because their daddies are more important than ours. Not a bit of effort or practice, just, boom, look, you can pull a tidal wave out of nowhere. Oh, and we'll make you the subject of the biggest prophecy in fifty bajillion years, just to make sure it's all worth your while. And Blondie'll agree to date you any day now, because life's a fucking fairy tale and that's the way it works. And I bet nothing bad'll ever happen to her, either. She'll never go missing for months or…"

I was pretty sure I had heard something about Annabeth going missing at some point, but I decided to keep that to myself. Now Clarisse was starting to work herself up into the fury I was all too familiar with. And there were tears in her eyes, which I knew would only piss her off even more.

"You know why I was so mad at you when you left? It wasn't because I thought you were a traitor. It was because I thought you bailed without telling me. I mean, I hadn't even gotten a quest at that point. Nobody—almost—at camp liked me. Why the Hades wouldn't I have come with you?"

"Why didn't you leave on your own?"

"Well… I mean, absolutely nobody on Kronos's side would've wanted anything to do with me. And, I mean, I figured you didn't _hate_ me, and that was something to keep me here. And then you went and got your stupid ass kidnapped, and I was planning to go after you, but then I got the quest. I couldn't exactly turn it down without raising some eyebrows, but…"

"Probably a good thing we didn't have this discussion back then, 'cause I would've left for real if you were coming with me."

She sighed and slumped against a tree. "And here we are. I mean, I want to be here. I've put a lot more thought into it since then. We're on the right side."

"Yeah."

"I just wish I could get some credit, is all. All of us. It'd make my job easier, if nothing else."

"I think we'll be lucky not to get hit with lightning bolts at this point. I don't think I was even off the blacklist yet."

Clarisse shot me the single most sardonic, almost pitying look I had seen in my life. "The gods," she said slowly and clearly, "Can kiss my ass. They can kill me right now if they think they can win this war without me."

Thunder rumbled.

"Um, Clarisse?" I said nervously. "I sort of—"

"_Shut up_, Chris. You of all people. What happened to six years of being unclaimed? And all that bullshit before Dionysus would save you? Leaving you in a basement for six months? Breaking your bones when you had a problem with that? Amphitheus? Am I really the only one who's willing to say it when they're acting like jackasses? I thought you had guts. Don't tell me you're just letting them scare you into sitting down and shutting up."

Right for the pride. Ouch.

"I'm just trying to forgive and forget."

"And trying to talk me out of standing up to them falls under that umbrella? You hugged me because I _didn't_ tell you to apologize, Chris."

"I don't know," I said helplessly. "I'm just… choosing my battles, I guess. It was a while ago. It just doesn't seem that personal anymore."

"They're the reason you went insane. Why Mary's dead."

"Don't go there. Not over this."

"Fine," she said coldly. "Tell me again what Apollo said when he healed you. After Dionysus did his level best to cripple you for life, of course."

"You know he didn't think it through like that."

"Apollo wanted you to grovel, didn't he? That's their number-two priority, you know. Number one is not getting overthrown. Number two is keeping the demigods under their thumb, and I don't mean for military purposes, I mean because they think it's funny to watch us squirm."

"What the Hades makes you say that?"

"You're proof, aren't you?"

"I'm one person. Maybe they just don't like me. And I was a traitor, remember? I've never seen them do anything like that to someone they thought was loyal."

Clarisse scowled murderously. "Well, I'm not a traitor, but just for this conversation I'll probably—"

"What?"

"… Get yelled at? Or my spear will snap when I'm fighting Prissy or something."

"Is that really what you were going to say?"

"Duh. I mean, you never know with the gods. Maybe they'd turn me into a My Little Pony action figure or something just to piss me off."

She wasn't telling the whole truth, but something told me to drop it for now.

"I don't know," she muttered. "Olympus is as Olympus does, I guess. I can deal with pride. I can relate to that. If I could burn people to ashes with my mind, I'd probably make them kowtow to me, too. But that's just the gods. The demigods…"

"Can't you worry about this after the war?"

"I'd love to, but I don't know if I can get my cabin to fight. I _have_ to get that chariot."

**Yup, good luck with that, chicka.**


	55. Clarisse Hates Everyone

**Almost forgot Chris showed up in this scene. If you're so inclined, go read Percy's interpretation of it on page 76 of TLO. It might make this a bit more entertaining.**

**... Yes, I made Percy completely clueless. Deal with it.**

"You think you can talk her out of this?" Beckendorf asked, loading up a poor pegasus with several jars of Greek fire. He was at least the tenth person to ask me.

"Have you _met_ Clarisse?"

"True. I'm starting to get a little worried, though. We need her."

"Tell everybody else that."

Beckendorf gave me a weird look. "You're really on her side, huh?"

"I can sympathize, I guess. This isn't just her being a brat about the chariot. She's taken a lot of crap over the years."

"She gives as good as she gets."

"Maybe she used to, but not anymore. I don't think anyone realizes how much effort she puts in to defend camp. And as far as I can see, no one's given her much in the way of motivation."

Beckendorf raised an eyebrow. "You really think you ought to be talking like that, Rodriguez?"

I scowled. "Bite me. It's the truth."

"Doesn't mean Olympus has to be okay with you saying it."

"Olympus isn't okay with a lot of things. They aren't okay with Kronos being alive, and oh look, he is."

"Hubris, Chris. You're just a demigod."

"Just a demigod. Sure. How _dare_ I try to rise above my station," I grumbled sarcastically. "All I want is the freedom to say what I think. But no, that's not allowed. Clarisse just wants some credit, but no. This is bullshit."

Beckendorf sighed. "How many times do we have to go through this? Bitching about it isn't going to help anything."

"It might make me feel better."

"Has it?"

"Not really."

"Well, there you go. Now suck it up and hand me that bridle."

I did. "You want me to get Silena?"

"What, for if I get killed or something?" he laughed.

I rolled my eyes. "Don't say it like I'm being stupid. You're riding a flying horse to a cruise ship full of monsters, all with a bunch of explosives strapped to your back. What could possibly go wrong?"

"Nothing will go wrong. How could it? I've got the all-powerful son of Poseidon on my side, remember?" Beckendorf said, probably just to piss me off. "You know the gods won't let him die, and frankly, I'm a lot harder to kill than he is."

"Are you _sure_?" I said, biting back the mean comment about Percy that immediately sprang to mind. Out of nowhere, I had a bad feeling about this. "I mean, how do you think I'll feel if you get blown up and I let you leave without talking to her?"

Beckendorf rolled his eyes. "Honestly, Chris, you're acting like my mother. Fine. If it'll lower your blood pressure, go get Silena."

"Thanks." I took off without another word. I knew he and Percy had been practicing this for weeks, but it was still the most dangerous mission we'd tried so far. Chiron had barely considered it when Clarisse first came up with it, I remembered. And she never would have if I hadn't started sketching the Andromeda during Arts and Crafts. Which I wouldn't have been about to do if not for my little escapade. So really, anything that went wrong would be my fault.

If somebody died, I thought, it had better be Percy. I did _not_ want to be responsible for taking Beckendorf from Silena. Not after she had worked so hard to get Clarisse and me together.

I found Silena outside her cabin and sent her to the stables. I almost followed her, but decided not to, wanting to give them the chance to have some mushy, fluffy last kiss.

Last kiss for the next few hours, of course.

_Why_ was I so nervous?

xxx

I hung my head and stared into the black campfire as Silena sobbed into my shoulder. Clarisse had an arm around her, patting her knee comfortingly. I had never seen Clarisse try to comfort anyone before. Other than me, I guess.

The other campers began to wander off as the last golden tendrils of smoke from the shroud twined into the sky. Silena was still crying.

"He's in Elysium, Silena," Clarisse said quietly. "You know he is. We can ask Nico if you want. I'm sure he misses you, but I bet someone he missed was already there. He's not alone. He's okay."

"He's not okay," Silena choked out. "He's dead and it's all my fault. I—I…"

I had no idea what she was talking about, but before I could ask, everyone's favorite Prophecy Kid decided to drop by.

"Hey, Silena, I'm really sorry," he said.

Sure, but not sorry enough to have saved Beckendorf. They were in the ocean, for the gods' sakes. How could it possibly have gotten so screwed up?

I kept my eyes on the ground to avoid giving him a death glare, because I knew he didn't deserve it. This was my fault, indirectly at least. Percy would have done everything he could, as much as I hated to admit it.

Percy coughed awkwardly. "Silena, you know Beckendorf carried your picture. He looked at it right before we went into battle. You meant a lot to him. You made the last year the best of his life."

Silena cried harder.

"Good work, Percy," Clarisse muttered, echoing my thoughts exactly.

"No, it's all right," Silena said. "Thank… thank you, Percy. I should go."

She was way too nice for her own good.

"You want company?" Clarisse said.

Silena shook her head shakily and hurried away. I hoped some of her less airheaded cabinmates would know to look out for her.

"She's stronger than she looks," Clarisse muttered. "She'll survive."

"You could help with that," Percy piped up. "You could honor Beckendorf's memory by fighting with us."

I seriously considered knocking him out there and then, but figured Clarisse would probably want that privilege for herself. Luckily for Percy, she didn't appear to have her knife.

"Not my problem. My cabin doesn't get honor, I don't fight."

"All right. I didn't want to bring this up, but you owe me one. You'd be rotting in a Cyclops's cave in the Sea of Monsters if it wasn't for me."

I shot Clarisse a _when-the-Hades-did-THAT-happen? _look. She ignored me.

"Any other favor, Percy. Not this. The Ares cabin has been dissed too many times. And don't think I don't know what people say about me behind my back."

"So, what—you're just going to let Kronos crush us?"

Like he won't anyway, I thought.

"If you want my help so bad, tell Apollo to give us the chariot."

"You're such a big baby."

Oh, real mature, Jackson. Although when I thought about it, he had a point, sort of. The same point I'd tried to make before, specifically the fact that if Clarisse couldn't at least wait until after the war to take care of this, no one was getting any honor from anyone. Starting a civil war had never been the best military strategy.

Clarisse, of course, disagreed, and elected to express it by charging Percy. As much as I wanted to let her beat the Hades out of him, I knew it wouldn't be a fair fight.

"Whoa, guys," I said, stepping between them. "Clarisse, you know, maybe he's got a point."

"Not you too," she sneered. I cursed as she stomped off, realizing that it had probably looked like I was taking the Apollo cabin's side.

"Hey, wait!" I protested, taking off after her and leaving Percy by the barely-burning fire. "I just meant—Clarisse, wait!"

Clarisse stormed into her cabin and slammed the door in my face. Great. And as far as I knew, I had been the only one outside her cabin to show her any sympathy.

"Dammit, Clarisse!" I yelled at the splintery wood. "Come on! I'm on your side, all right?"

A spearpoint slammed through the door with no warning whatsoever. I jumped back with a yelp.

"All right, all right, I can take a hint!" I said shakily. I turned to go back to my own cabin and groaned when I saw Silena sitting on a bench outside hers. She was sobbing again. Drew, I realized without a second's hesitation. She had been sniping at Silena for years, and she was exactly the kind of person to kick her when she was down. I cursed a few more times and started toward Silena.

Mister fucking Sunshine to the rescue.

**Oh, Chris and Clarisse. Coolheaded and communicative as always.**


	56. Entirely Too Many Dead People

**Track and exams and APs, oh my. But seriously, I apologize for vanishing for a month.**

**There's a dead bug on my copy of TLO and it won't come off. :( Okay, reading this scene way more closely, am I the only one who wondered why everyone—including Clarisse—flips out over Silena, but doesn't give a damn about the ten dead Ares campers? Three cheers for protagonist-centered morality!**

My relationship with Clarisse had gotten to the point where, when she threw me to the ground with a boot on my chest and something sharp at my neck, I just crossed my arms behind my head and yawned. I figured I may as well be comfortable while she read me the riot act.

"Stop following me," she growled.

"Look, Clementine, I know it's everybody else's fault, okay? But you're seriously going to let them fight without you? C'mon, you love fighting! Think about how much fun they must be having!"

"Someone has to defend camp."

"That's bullshit and you know it. There's no point if they get torn to shreds."

"I hope they do."

"No, you don't."

"Go to Manhattan if you want to. Ares stays here."

"Fine. Let me up."

Clarisse frowned, but moved her foot. I got up and started to walk away.

"… You're really going?" she said quietly.

"Duh," I shrugged, wondering how long I could bluff. "What d'you think is gonna happen? They'll kill everyone in Manhattan and then come here. You think you can hold camp with thirty people and a baby dragon?"

"You think you can turn the tide?"

"'Course not, but I bet you could."

"So do I. Too bad I'm not going."

I raised an eyebrow. "Have you asked your cabinmates what they think? Real leaders listen to the people they command."

Clarisse narrowed her eyes and got right in my face, jabbing my chest. "You saying I'm not a real leader?"

"Where's your spear?" I asked, distracted.

"Silena's got it."

"Why?"

"I dunno. She showed up and tried to talk me into helping, then asked for my spear. I'm not going to say no to her. Not now."

I frowned. It seemed strange, but whatever. Then something caught my attention. "You hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"Dunno. C'mere." I grabbed her arm and took off in the direction of Half-Blood Hill. "Sounds like chariot wheels, doesn't it."

"Who'd be driving a chariot?"

"I dunno, maybe someone attacking us? You seriously don't have a weapon?"

"I had a spear when I left for patrol, but I threw it at a tree and I couldn't get it out," she said defensively.

"Yeah, whatever." We reached the top of the hill. "Uh-oh."

"What the Hades?" Clarisse screeched.

A fleet of chariots was flying down the hill, filled with yelling Ares kids. In the lead chariot was someone in Clarisse's armor, waving her spear.

"HEY!" Clarisse screamed at the top of her lungs. None of them turned. Within a few seconds, they were out of sight. Clarisse whipped toward me. "Did you know about this?"

"Hades, no," I said, raising my hands defensively. "So what do we do?"

"Where's _our_ flying chariot?"

"Apollo cabin, I'd think."

That time Clarisse dragged me off, muttering under her breath the whole way.

xxx

"Do you have to lean over the edge like that?"

"It's fun."

"Not once you fall."

"Falling would be fun. Landing, not so much," I mused. "Point taken. Do you know where we're going?"

"Duh. There's the Empire State Building. And several small fires. And… holy Hades, is that a drakon?"

"Looks like it."

We both flinched as half of Clarisse's cabin charged straight at it and promptly got decimated.

"That was brave, though," I commented.

As we started to dive, the person in Clarisse's armor charged the drakon. The stride was familiar. A sort of crazy high-step, like the person was used to wearing heels.

"Oh, gods," Clarisse whispered, just before the figure got a faceful of poison. "Silena."

The Ares cabin went crazy. Percy charged out of a pack of people and started playing chicken with the drakon, yelling at it to distract it from the girl in the red armor. As much as I hated to admit it to myself, he was as brave as any Ares kid. Well, almost any Ares kid.

The chariot half-landed, half-crashed onto Fifth Avenue. Clarisse vaulted out and sprinted toward the drakon. I ran after her, feeling a bit dazed. Why did everything have to be my fault? I should've been able to convince Clarisse. This didn't have to happen.

Clarisse knelt next to Silena. She was crying. I could count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I'd seen her cry. "WHY?" she cried.

I stopped next to her, wondering what the Hades I was supposed to do. A furious, reptilian scream made me glance up. The drakon pulled its head from a brick wall, its expression less than thrilled. One of its eyes was a gory mess. Percy stood alone in the street next to it, but his attention was on us.

"Look out!" I said.

The drakon swung its head toward my voice, splattering us with blood and poison. I yelped when a drop of acid landed on my hand. The noise seemed to snap Clarisse out of her trance. She glanced up as the drakon lumbered toward us, its remaining eye fixed on me, freezing me in place. Her red eyes were actually glowing.

"YOU WANT DEATH?" Clarisse screamed at the drakon. And, incidentally, right in my ear. "WELL, COME ON!"

She grabbed her spear from Silena and shoved past me, sending me flying as she charged. Percy and I glanced at each other and took off after her. We were wasting our time. Clarisse dodged a strike that shattered the cement and leapt onto the drakon's head. It thrashed like an angry bull. Clarisse kept a death grip on one of its horns and raised Maimer above her head, then drove it into the drakon's eye. The spear snapped. Clarisse bailed just as the electricity slashed down the drakon's body.

And even though I was surrounded by death and destruction and acid and entirely too many dead people, I couldn't help smiling, just a little bit, when everybody but me stared at her with their jaws somewhere around their shoes.

Not that Clarisse gave a damn. And I forgot about it as soon as I looked back down at Silena. It really wasn't a pretty sight, especially compared to how beautiful she had been before.

"What were you thinking?" Clarisse whispered.

"Wouldn't… listen," Silena said weakly. "Cabin would… only follow you."

"So you stole my armor. You waited until Chris and I went out on patrol; you stole my armor and pretended to be me. And NONE of you noticed?" she yelled at her cabin suddenly. They jumped back a pace, staring at their shoes.

"Don't blame them. They wanted to… believe I was you."

I flinched as Silena echoed what I had said about what the Ares cabin wanted, and I was pretty sure Clarisse did, too.

Now Clarisse was crying again. "You _stupid _Aphrodite girl. You charged a drakon? _Why_?"

"All my fault. The drakon, Charlie's death… camp endangered—"

Wait, what?

"Stop it!" Clarisse protested. "That's not true!"

Something silver glimmered in Silena's hand. A bracelet. With a charm. A scythe.

"You were the spy," Percy said. For once, I didn't feel the urge to say something along the lines of _thank you, Captain Obvious_. Because it wasn't. It didn't make sense.

"Before… before I liked Charlie, Luke was nice to me."

Me too, I thought. Hades, that could've been me.

"He was so… charming. Handsome."

No comment.

"Later, I wanted to stop helping him, but he threatened to tell. He promised… he promised I was saving lives. Fewer people would get hurt. He told me he wouldn't hurt… Charlie. He lied to me."

Clarisse glared at the gawking Ares kids. "Go, help the centaurs. Protect the doors. GO!"

They went.

"Forgive me," Silena gasped.

Clarisse shook her head in denial. "You're not dying."

But she was, whether we liked it or not. I took one of her hands, keeping one eye on the battle that surrounded us. No one was stabbing Clarisse in the back while she was distracted.

"Charlie…" Silena murmured. "See Charlie…"

And then she was gone. I put a hand on Clarisse's shoulder as she cried. I wasn't used to being the one who did that. Usually she was the one who had to be there for me. But she'd done such a good job of it that I actually thought I might be able to handle this. I would miss Silena and probably beat myself up about it until the day I died, but I could keep it together for Clarisse.

Annabeth reached out shakily and closed Silena's eyes. "We have to fight," she said. "She gave her life to help us. We have to honor her."

"She was a hero, understand?" Clarisse said, her voice low and shaking. "A hero."

Percy nodded. "Come on, Clarisse."

Clarisse grabbed the sword from Alice, who was unconscious, the Athena boy at her side. "Kronos is going to pay," she snarled.

I wasn't sure if she had even been directing it at the boy, but he nodded.

**Next chapter is out as soon as I finish typing it, and I'm starting right now. Really.**


	57. Clarisse Beats Up Everything

**Told you.**

Clarisse then proceeded to beat up everything.

While Party Ponies swung Nerf bats, Hunters fired arrows, and I stabbed things, Clarisse ran them over, screaming the whole time. It was inspiring, in a terrifying sort of way. I made a mental note to never piss her off to the point that her entire body started glowing red. Clearly, it didn't end well for the responsible party.

Kronos's army backed off. I didn't blame them. Demigods and centaurs started carrying the wounded into the building, but Clarisse kept riding in circles. Percy scratched his head.

"I'll watch her," I said, resisting the urge to laugh. "She'll get tired eventually. I'll make sure she comes inside." I wasn't exactly sure how to go about doing that, but I'd figure something out. It wasn't like she'd actually kill me. I hoped.

"What about camp?" Percy asked. "Is anybody left there?"

"Only Argus and the nature spirits. Peleus the dragon is still guarding the tree."

"They won't last long. But I'm glad you came."

I shrugged and nodded. "I'm sorry it took so long. I tried to reason with Clarisse. I said there's no point in defending camp if you guys die. All our friends are here. I'm sorry it took Silena…"

"My Hunters will stand guard," the Lieutenant interrupted. "Annabeth and Percy, you should go to Olympus. I have a feeling they'll need you up there—to set up the final defense."

Of course, I thought, rolling my eyes mentally. Just go ahead and leave me down here to be the second-to-last defense. Don't worry about me and my psychotic girlfriend. We'll be fine.

We would, though, I realized after a moment. I wasn't sure where the confidence came from, but it was there. We wouldn't lose.

Percy and Annabeth followed Thalia inside, helping the last few campers along with them. I leaned against the building. It was weirdly quiet. Well, except for the sound of the drakon's carcass being dragged behind Clarisse's chariot. She still had the red glow, but her heart didn't really seem to be in it anymore. She was starting to look tired.

"Clementine?" I said hesitantly.

She whipped toward me, raising Alice's sword.

"Whoa. Hey. It's me. Wanna cool the bloodlust for a minute there?"

She stared at me for a second, then lowered the weapon. The red glow surrounding her began to cool.

"Awesome. Thanks."

The sudden silence when she stopped dragging the drakon around let me hear something else. Yelling. And shrieking, and howling, and baying, and…

"Aw, Hades," I muttered as Kronos's army charged into view.

Clarisse looked up. The red glow that hadn't quite died flickered back to life.

"Clarisse?" I said. She ignored me. "Clarisse, please don't."

The army charged closer. Now I could hear it coming from opposite directions. And I could see Luke—Kronos—at the head of it, smirking and twirling his scythe.

"Oh, gods," I muttered. "Clarisse, wait two seconds, okay? Please?"

I wasn't sure if she listened to me, but I didn't have time to make sure. I hightailed it into the lobby as fast as I could. What I found wasn't promising. Wounded demigods were everywhere, waiting for someone to help them up to Olympus. Chiron patched people up as best he could, pulling arrows from limbs and tossing them to the Hunters. Party Ponies hiccuped in the corners.

"They're coming," I said quietly. Nobody even looked up. "Chiron," I said, more loudly.

"Yes?"

"They're coming back. Nobody's out there but Clarisse and I."

Thalia's head snapped up. She and Chiron began rapping out orders. I ran back outside, figuring they'd do what they could as fast as they could.

Clarisse was gone. I stared after her in disbelief as she charged the chariot straight at Kronos, who had almost reached the building.

"Well, _fuck_," I muttered before running after her.

She was exhausted. Even from a distance, I could see her legs shaking, but she didn't seem to care. She sent _dracaenae_ flying like bowling pins and went straight for Kronos.

I heard voices behind me as campers, Hunters, and whoever else spilled onto the street. They were too far behind me. I was going to end up trapped in the middle of the monsters, just like I had when they'd attacked camp, but I didn't see how there was much of anything I could do about that. No way in Hades Clarisse was taking on the Lord of Time on her own.

Or at all, as it turned out. The Blessing of Ares apparently gave you a bit of tunnel vision. Kronos gestured at the Hyperboreans that formed some of his vanguard as Clarisse's chariot drew nearer, but she didn't seem to notice.

I ran head-on into the front of his army, ducking and slashing as they flooded past me and clashed with the rest of the demigods. And someone must have given said demigods a pep talk, because they were fighting like Highlanders.

The Hyperboreans breathed out. For a second, I thought Clarisse would shake it off like nothing, but the frost started to collect on her. A moment later, she was frozen in a block of ice, chariot and all. And Kronos started to hack at it. Which did not fly with me.

I threw a _dracaena_ out of my way, punched an enemy demigod in the face, and attacked Kronos. It didn't occur to me that I couldn't possibly win. I wasn't the one fated to destroy him. But that didn't mean I had to let him kill Clarisse.

Kronos actually looked surprised for a moment. At first I thought he just couldn't believe I was actually trying to fight him, but then I realized how familiar the expression was. He wasn't just Kronos. He was Luke, too. And I was Luke's little half-brother.

I didn't even bother trying to hurt him. I just kept myself busy with not dying, which was a heck of a task in and of itself. Luke had always been a better fighter than me. He was just as quick, and now he was a hundred times as strong. I had no chance.

I ducked, dodged, and parried, feeling myself driven backward with every strike. I shivered every time the scythe tore through the air an inch from my skin. It left a cold shockwave behind it, like ice in water. Kronos's face was perfectly blank. Whatever conflict had been there was gone. He was going to kill me.

My back hit the block of ice. Kronos drove the scythe into it right next to my neck. I twisted and saw the blade stop less than a foot from Clarisse's jaw. He yanked it out and turned his attention back to me, this time with a cruel smile. I realized he had just stabbed the ice to remind me that after I died, she was next.

"And who are you?" he said, crossing his blade against mine. "Traitor."

"What?"

"You took the oath," he hissed. "You think I cannot tell? I do not know or care your name, but I know that you deserted my army."

I scowled. "Deserted? You sent me away. Not that I wouldn't have left anyway."

Kronos's gold eyes narrowed. "I will kill you now, and once I take control of Hades's realm, you will suffer for that."

"You think I give a damn? You don't scare me."

The scythe thudded into the ice again, barely missing Clarisse.

"Don't," I said before I could stop myself.

The scythe slashed at me again. I caught the strike with my own sword, but I knew he had let me. The blades trembled in the air in front of my face.

Help, I thought. Hermes? Chiron? Somebody? Percy, if you're gonna kill him, now would be a fantastic time to show up and do it, huh?

"Luke," I said.

Kronos froze. "What?"

"Luke, you never had a problem with Clarisse, did you? She's just a kid. We all are."

He stared at me.

"Look, I don't even know where I stand on any of this," I gasped, my arms shaking. The scythe pressed closer to my neck. "I don't know about gods or Titans. I'm just loyal to her, all right? If Kronos wants to kill me, let him, but don't let him kill her. He's got no reason to."

"Kronos," a voice called from the door. Kronos's eyes flashed. It looked like Chiron would save us after all. I felt like passing out on the spot.

Kronos forgot about me completely as he turned to face Chiron. I took a few deep breaths and noticed the new gang of monsters chipping away at the ice. Clarisse must've taken out a few of their friends. Well, I'd take a few of _them_ out.

I sort of lost track of what happened after that. People and monsters screamed and fell. Travis saved my life when a giant knocked me down, then I saved his when a gang of _dracaena_ cornered him against the ice, just like Kronos had done to me. Kieran and a few other Ares kids fought their way over. We circled the block of ice, massacring the monsters attacking it until we had cleared a circle around it. Any monster that dared set claw in the no-man's-land paid for it.

I didn't realize Hades had showed up until I found myself fighting alongside a dead Marine. A familiar-looking dead Marine.

"I've heard a lot about you," the strawberry-blonde woman said with a smile. She drove her combat knife into the chest of a Laistrygonian that had been sneaking up on me while I stared at her like an idiot. "Pay attention, now. Mary misses you, but she told me she was giving me the silent treatment if I let you get killed."

I nodded and cracked a certain enemy son of Apollo over the head with my sword handle, rolling him behind me when he collapsed to the ground. Even Andrew didn't deserve to get trampled, although I had a few choice words in mind for him when he woke up.

The earth shook. Both armies froze.

"Oh dearie," Kieran said.

Typhon towered over the Manhattan skyline. Gale-force winds tore down the street, sending stray bits of armor flying. The sky, already dark, turned black.

"Yup," I agreed. "Keep fighting."

We did. The monsters started to close in again, encouraged by Typhon's approach. A few Ares kids were wounded. They fought on anyway, but they couldn't hold the line. Soon we were all cornered against the ice. A Laistrygonian's club cracked against my collarbone. A spear skimmed my ribs. A demigod's sword slashed my arm. We were fighting for our lives.

Typhon roared. Everyone flinched, waiting for him to stomp into Manhattan. But he didn't. A conch horn rang out.

"NOW, MY BRETHREN!" a distant voice bellowed. "STRIKE FOR OLYMPUS!"

"The Hades?" I said weakly, leaning against the ice and trying to catch my breath.

"Nope. Poseidon, I think," Kieran said. "Ow," he added when a spear pinned his arm to the ice.

I reached over and yanked it out while he defended himself with his free arm.

"Thanks."

"No problem. Hellhound at ten o'clock."

Typhon roared again. I watched in amazement as his head slid out of view. "Did they beat him?"

"Don't ask me."

I sparred with a _dracaena_, distracting her until Mary's mother snuck behind her and ran her through. Something above me growled. I looked up and saw a hellhound standing on the ice, snarling and scrabbling at it. There was more yelling from the end of the road, but for now, I was more concerned with not letting the giant dog rip Clarisse's head off. Between the summer heat the monsters attacking it, there wasn't much left. I wanted the ice to melt, but I didn't want Clarisse to be pinned and unable to defend herself while there was still enough of her exposed for her to get killed. That just wasn't fair.

Kieran noticed it too. "Help me up," he said.

"I'm lighter. You're stronger. You help _me_ up."

He rolled his eyes, but laced his hands together and practically threw me at the hellhound. I skidded across the ice, whirled, and slashed at it. It tumbled over the edge in a yelping flurry of fur, right in front of Mary's mom, who killed it offhandedly before returning her attention to a giant.

There was a scraping sound behind me, and suddenly I was falling over the edge, too. _Deja vu,_ I thought as the second hellhound landed on top of me, slamming my head against the pavement. Gods, I hated hellhounds.

The yelling came closer. Light came with it, turning the dark streets gold and silver. The monsters started to shift uneasily.

The hellhound's teeth sank into my side. I yelled and slashed at it, but the only part of it I could reach was its shoulder. It snarled and shook me like a chew toy.

Then it exploded into ash, courtesy of Mary's mom, hellhound killer extraordinaire. I struggled to my knees, clutching my side. It was bleeding. A lot. Maybe too much.

Kronos's army began to run. The Olympians were coming, I realized. They had beaten Typhon.

A Laistrygonian knocked me down. I rolled out of the way of its feet, stabbing it before it crushed Andrew. I felt a little bad for attacking a retreating army, but they would have trampled both of us if I hadn't slashed at all the monsters that got too close. Every time I tried to stand, I fell again.

The gods charged hot on the monsters' tail. I dropped my sword. The pavement around me was bloody. Not all of it was mine, but I figured most of it was. A skeletal hand touched my shoulder.

"Chris?"

I couldn't find the focus to reply. The world spun.

"Apollo," the same voice said firmly.

A blurry figure among the gods stopped. He looked at Andrew sprawled against the ice behind me and Mary's mom's hand still on my shoulder. He hesitated for a moment, then nodded. My side felt hot. The dizziness grew. Everything disappeared.

**Why yes, yes I did indeed just knock my narrator out for the umpteenth time. Deal with it. I'm actually setting something up, though, not just being lazy. Promise. Once again, is anyone still reading this such that I should actually finish it?**


	58. We Don't Like It When You Kill Us

**Hello there! First of all, seeing as I made no sense for the umpteenth time, what basically just happened is that Mary's mom passive-aggressive'd Apollo into saving Chris. In my head, Apollo had held Chris responsible for Mary's death, but finally decided that if Mary's mom didn't blame him, he could forgive him too.**

**Thing number two: Last week, my email thought it would be fun to start chucking 95 percent of fanfiction emails into junk, hence my review whoring. I do apologize for that; I was just a little worried because I thought I had gotten exactly 1 review for chapter 56. Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed! It made my day to know I hadn't lost everybody! :D**

**Thing number three: This is maybe, possibly, sort of the last chapter. I think everything major is wrapped up, and I don't have much of anywhere to go from here. This is certainly the end of the main plot, at least. There may be one more fluffy one á la chapter 49, but only if I get a good idea for it. If this does turn out to be the last chapter, I just want to say holy flipping flipflops, I flipping love you guys. I had so much fun writing this story, and on behalf of Chris and Clarisse, thank you so much for showing the minor characters some love. ;)**

I had expected to see some random Apollo kid when I opened my eyes, or maybe Mary's mom, or maybe, possibly Clarisse. What I got was the godling. _That_ godling. Amphi-whatsit.

He tensed, and I realized he was busy wrapping gauze around my arm, which felt cut to the bone. When did _that_ happen?

"I'm sorry," he said.

I stared at him blankly. "What?"

"I'm sorry. I had never been off Olympus before I got lost down there. I didn't know humans saw things like that."

"What, that we don't like it when you kill us?"

"Yeah. I still don't get why. Isn't that what Hades is for?"

"Not the same," I snapped, barely resisting the urge to slug him. _She says let it go,_ said Nico's voice in my head. "You can't change anything in the Underworld. Once you're dead, you're done. You don't matter anymore."

If you ever did in the first place, of course.

"Oh," he said, but I could tell he didn't really get it. "Sorry for trying to kill you, too."

"Whatever."

He frowned. I noticed his face was bleeding ichor, like maybe he'd actually fought Kronos's army rather than hiding somewhere and waiting for it all to blow over. "Really," he said. "I didn't know. Do you forgive me?"

I hesitated. "Yeah. For _that_. If you want forgiveness for killing her, ask her yourself. That's not mine to give."

"Okay," he said simply, and something told me he actually intended to follow through.

"Over there!" a voice called. "Hey, Chris!"

Alice and the Athena boy came wading through the wounded demigods that were littered throughout Olympus's streets. They both looked pretty banged-up, but nothing that wouldn't get better. Their elbows were hooked together. Something told me they'd spent the past few hours like that.

"Hey," I said. "Clarisse okay?"

"Yeah, they brought her up here and thawed her out. She was pretty pissed," Alice said, clearly trying not to smile. "She's in the throne room with Ares. She told us to find you, and that you'd better be alive or they'd have another war on their hands."

"Bleh, no thanks," I said, stumbling to my feet and following them. "What happened, anyway? Did the gods beat him?"

"Don't think so. Something about Percy, but I'm not sure. I heard something about Luke coming through for us in the end."

I remembered how he had hesitated in the street. It didn't surprise me that he'd changed his mind, somehow.

The throne room was in utter chaos. Gods, godlings, demigods, satyrs, nymphs, and who knew what else charged in every direction. It took me a minute to locate Ares, but those glasses were hard to miss. He was on some kind of rant about drakons. Clarisse seemed pretty happy with whatever he was saying. She was clearly distracted and kept fiddling with her hair and looking over her shoulder, but she smiled when he patted her on the back.

Suddenly, her eyes fell on me. I expected her to smile or maybe even excuse herself from Ares. What actually happened was that she took off at a dead sprint, launching herself into a hug that would have tackled me to the ground if I hadn't been ready for it.

"Uh, hey, Clementine," I said, hugging her back. Over Clarisse's shoulder, I saw Aphrodite grinning like the Cheshire cat and clasping her hands just like Silena always had.

Clarisse turned and glanced at Ares guiltily. He looked a little miffed, but waved his hand in an oh-don't-mind-me gesture.

"Nice job," I said. "With the drakon."

"I can't believe she did that," Clarisse muttered.

"Me either. It kind of… made sense, though, you know? I mean, with Beckendorf… I think she's probably okay with it."

"Well, I'm not. If I'd just—"

"Hey, Clarisse, remember how you always told me you'd knock me out if I blamed myself for Mary's death one more time?"

"Yeah?"

"That. I mean, I wouldn't knock you out, but… you know. Don't start that. You couldn't have possibly known how that would end up."

Clarisse punched my shoulder lightly. "Whatever, punk. Thanks for not dying."

"I try. Now, go let Ares finish his story before he fries both of us. I promise I won't get myself killed if you turn your back for two minutes."

"I'm holding you to that."

As soon as Clarisse was gone, someone else tapped my shoulder. I turned to see Hermes standing behind me. His expression wasn't nearly as exuberant as the throne room's general mood.

"How are you?" he said quietly. He didn't quite look me in the eye.

"Um, alive, I guess."

"I can see that you're _alive_. I meant, how have things turned out for you? I apologize once again for allowing you to be caught in the crossfire. One would think I would have learned by now that attempting to change fate never works."

"Nah. If you just let it do its thing, what's the point?" I shrugged. "Look, I'm fine. Really. I've had an interesting couple of years, but I'll be okay. Don't worry about it."

"I don't think I'll ever stop worrying about you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I grumbled, trying to ignore the warm and fuzzy feeling that came from knowing he had ever worried about me in the first place.

Hermes finally looked me in the eye, raising one elfish eyebrow. "I mean that you have a certain knack for landing yourself in trouble, no matter what I do," he said, half-smiling and throwing a glance at Clarisse.

I shrugged again. "If I'm gonna get myself in trouble anyway, who better than a daughter of Ares to watch out for me? Even if she _is_ the trouble I'm in half the time."

Hermes gave me a look that clearly said _your funeral_, but smiled and half-hugged me before walking away.

Hermes was the only Olympian to actually talk to me, but a couple more caught my eye, deliberately or otherwise. Apollo and Dionysus in particular seemed to be caught in internal battles as to whether or not to shoot me a death glare. In both cases, I actually managed to keep myself from glaring at them. If they were considering letting it go, I could at least not go out of my way to antagonize them. Both gods eventually nodded. I returned the gesture, careful to keep it from looking smug.

I went outside and leaned against one of the pillars, watching people bustle around. Olympus was already starting to look amazing again. All the wounded demigods had been taken care of. Now the minor gods were turning their attention to the statues and landscaping. I couldn't help smiling. If nothing else, maybe this whole thing had helping the Olympians put their priorities a little more in order.

"So that's over? You playing chicken with half of Olympus?"

I turned. Clarisse was leaning against the pillars next to me.

"Looks like it. Can't say I'm complaining. In retrospect, I may have been slightly out of my league on that one."

"Yeah, just a little." She was silent for a few seconds. "I'm surprised."

"Look, it seemed worth it. We just finished fighting a war."

"I'm not criticizing you. I'm just surprised 'cause I think that might be your fatal flaw. Refusal to forgive. Even yourself."

I blinked. "Oh."

"That's why I was so worried about you when you were having nightmares and all," she said, her eyes on the ground. "I didn't think you'd ever get over it. I thought you'd drive yourself insane all over again or something. You seemed like you had a death wish for a while there."

"Nah. Not while you were around. I love you." I blinked, wondering where the Hades that had come from. I mean, I meant it, but since when did I have that kind of guts? Now she'd probably punch me in the face and—

"I love you too."

Oh.

I probably could have come up with an answer to that, but I decided to go with the response Silena and Mary would have approved of and just kissed her instead.

Yeah, I'd be okay.


End file.
